The Beginning of the End
by StarlitSoul
Summary: When a young girl is changed by Carlisle after a car accident, the Cullen's lives are turned upside down, inside out, and sideways. Set around twelve years after Bella and Edward get married.
1. Orientation

**The Beginning of the End: Orientation**

**By Starlitsoul (Star) **

**Rating: T for very mild language, vampire changing, and other things that might pop up later on.**

_Ah, fanfiction is a wonderful thing, isn't it? This is my first fanfic, really, so I'm hoping it's all right. It started with being quite a different story – actually one I'm writing on my own, but it kind of spiraled into the Twilight universe without me noticing! Anyway, after reading Twilight fanfics for two hours before actually starting to type it up, I suppose it's to be expected. In my opinion, the title stinks, but titles always give me trouble anyway. ;_

_I might be putting the chapters up rather erratically. The first one just wanted to be written, so I still have to outline the rest! Please be patient if the next chapter isn't up for a couple of weeks – I get fairly busy around this time of year._

_I believe I've caught all the spelling and grammar mistakes in here, but if I haven't, please let me know – I'm usually a stickler for that kind of thing! I also hope I kept everyone in character … -sweatdrop- And made it long enough... yeah, I'll stop rambling now. _

_Also… one more thing – are there six million of these around here? I know I've seen a thousand "Edward never comes back and Bella gets changed" fics, but I don't think I've seen an "entirely new character gets dumped into the vampire world" fic. If there is one, I meant no harm in the writing of this, and if you've written one and posted it, I didn't mean to take your idea._

**Disclaimer: I'm most certainly not Stephenie Meyer, although she's my idol, and no money is being made from this – except for the ads that are probably on the FF. net page.**

Now that I don't think I'll be sued over copyright infringement, reviews and constructive criticism would be very helpful.

* * *

The first thing in my mind was pain.

The second: Why am I not dead?

My brain, much as I wanted it to shut down and let me die, whirred. The last thing I remembered was my mom's car tires hitting a patch of ice… I sat up with a gasp.

Hands, strong and insistent, pushed me back to the bed – I assumed that's what it was – and a voice murmured, "Sleep, child." I fell back into the oblivion of the excruciating sensations wracking my body…

The next time I surfaced from the burning agony, I heard a woman's voice. "Carlisle, how is she? Was it this painful for you all, listening to me?" 

The voice was lost as I felt my nose crack under an unseen blow, before re-molding into something that felt quite alien…

The third time I awoke, a shadow – human and female in shape, although only about five feet tall – smiled, flashing bright teeth. "Calm down. There are only a few more hours." 

I didn't trust the shadow for a moment, but as I felt my feet contract, I lost the will to endure in silence and screamed for the first time of many during those few hours...

When the pain suddenly cut off, I tried to sit up again. I lay tangled in an ivory comforter; closer inspection revealed numerous rents in the fabric. The man sitting in the corner glanced up, and I gasped. His eyes were an unsettling shade of dark burgundy-gold against his blonde hair.

"Calm down," he murmured soothingly. I stiffened.

"You can't expect me to 'calm down' when I have no clue where I am, where my parents are… Is this some sort of preparatory ritual for entrance into whatever afterlife there is?"

He sighed. "No."

"Am I in hell? There sure was enough pain getting here. You people really need to do something about the transition process. I mean, I can understand the burning-in-hell-for-eternity part, but really, can't I have a few pain-free minutes if I died in some horribly awful way?"

"You aren't in hell, and I can't do much about the pain. We tried to give you morphine."

"Where am I, then?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Perhaps I should explain. But first…" He left the room, and entered again not ten seconds later – trailing seven other people. Two blonde women, who looked to be in their early twenties, a bronze-haired boy, a brown-haired man, and two girls with dark hair – one with short, one with long, and one other blonde man, younger than the first.

None of them could have possibly been over thirty, and several looked like they couldn't be over twenty.

All had the unnervingly golden eyes.

All were strangely pale, regardless of the hair color they possessed.

All were absolutely stunning.

"What's your name?" the man who had awoken me asked.

"What does it matter?" I snapped. He sighed. 

"Edward?" The bronze-haired boy stepped forward and gently grasped my chin between long white fingers – fingers no paler than the others here.

He forced me to look at him, and I froze. "Why won't you tell us?" he murmured gently. "We won't hurt you."

"You already have. Whatever this is, I want out. Let me die." His eyes shadowed instantly, becoming harder. He stepped back, and the brown-haired woman embraced him gently, laying her head onto his shoulder.

One of the women, the one who looked oldest, stepped forward. "Can't you please tell us?" A wave of security washed over me. 

"I'm Courtney."

The first blonde man smiled. His face, already handsome, became absolutely beautiful.

"Thank you. Courtney, do you believe in the supernatural?"

"What, like ghosts?"

"No. Like vampires."

I snorted. "No."

The other blonde woman, possibly the most beautiful of the breathtaking group, raised an eyebrow. "Start believing."

"_What_?"

"Start at the beginning, Rosalie!" chirped the small black-haired girl.

"Actually,_ I _will, Alice." The man eyed the girl – _Alice_ – before turning to me…

Twenty minutes later, I sat in a state of total disbelief. "But… vampires don't exist!"

The blonde man that hadn't spoken yet, although I'd heard the little black-haired girl, Alice, refer to him as _Jasper_, snorted. It was a quiet snort, but I heard it all the same.

I didn't let this deter me. "Vampires are repelled by the sign of the cross, and they don't show up in mirrors, and they're burned by the sun…" 

The brunette girl, who also hadn't spoken but instead leaned into the one named _Edward_, offering support, burst into laughter. Eight heads turned toward the sound.

"Bella, what's so funny?" the other man that hadn't spoken, the muscular one, asked. His voice sounded as though he was _teasing_ her – at a time like this!

"I was just… remembering…" she choked out through giggles, "the first time Edward brought me to your house in Forks… and the cross on the wall!"

He smiled too, as did Carlisle. 

I stopped. "Further proof you all aren't vampires. There was a cross on the wall!" The one who had teased the girl currently laughing – Was the name I'd heard Bella? —smiled. 

"Accept it, kid." He handed me a small mirror, but before I could do anything, a burning ache at the back of my throat made itself known with a vengeance.

"Carlisle! She…" Jasper warned, but Carlisle had already answered. 

"Courtney?"

"Yes?" I rasped.

"Come with me." 

Too overcome by the flaming, dry pain to do anything else, I followed the three that left the room meekly.

As the three of them and I exited the house by way of an intricately carved oak door, I gasped. Woods surrounded the house, quite large from what I'd seen of it, on three sides. A snow-capped mountain rose, tall and imposing above the trees, barely visible through the thick, misty rain. A brook ran alongside the house, perhaps fifteen or twenty feet wide. I turned to look to my right, and saw a short path that led to a rocky beach and a cold-looking stretch of ocean.

It was beautiful, and I could care less, because a wonderfully warm and delicious scent filled the air. Something in me whispered, dangerously seductive,_ Go and run. Feast. Gorge. They'll never notice you're gone… see how the girl and the boy look the other way; they won't think a bit of it…Eat. Drink. Be satiated._

I gave into the voice, and suddenly my body was not my own. I could feel myself flying through the trees, towards the source of the mouthwatering smell. Dimly, I realized that the blonde man… what was his name again? Carter? Carson? was rapidly gaining on me, calling out a name, but I was too far gone in my search for the source of the fragrance. 

A sack of rocks collided with me, oddly human-shaped. I looked up, startled for a moment out of my scent-induced daze, to see the dark-haired, muscular man pinning me down.

"What are you doing? Let me go!" I shoved him off – something I never would have expected to be able to do.

Carlisle, that was the other's name. He arrived, trailing the fair-haired girl. All three held me down as I struggled against them, kicking and twisting, trying to get closer to the aroma, to revel in it... 

"Good," panted Carlisle as a blur dashed away from us, leaving the front door of the house gaping open. "Jasper will get him away from here." 

I battled on, until the scent began to disperse. It lingered, taunting me. I had no way of knowing if hours had passed, or merely seconds.

"Where is he, Jasper?" I couldn't tell who spoke. I sprang to my feet, aware that the simple action was much quicker than before the accident, after realizing I was no longer held down.

"He's back at a campsite about a hundred miles from here, very suddenly sound asleep. He'll think the run was a dream…"

Now that the tantalizingly sweet scent was gone from the air, I inhaled, feeling a rich bouquet of perfumes invade my suddenly sensitive nose. Everything from the smell of pine sap to the salty brine of the ocean showed up in the air.

"What_was_ that?" I wheezed. 

The one called Jasper's eyes warred with pity and understanding. "A human."


	2. History

_Chapter Two, up and running! The next ones will be coming more slowly._

_My thanks to the three people that reviewed; that's quite honestly more than I'd hoped for! This seems to be well-recieved, and I hope I don't mar your hopes of a good story. Just consider the first few... prologues of sort. Nothing very exciting happens in them, although I'd recommend reading this one closely, as stuff happens between the lines._

_-Star _

* * *

I looked at Jasper, not willing to believe what he'd just said. "Why did… No. I…" I trailed off, then looked up. "Why did you do that? Even if he was human, and I don't want to kill him, I _want_ him! Let me go after him!" I made to go after the lingering scent, but was forced down by the muscular, dark-haired one. I stopped struggling – it seemed pointless. I had the oddest feeling, though, like I could throw him off easily. I ignored the feeling. It was probably nothing, and if it turned out to be anything, well, it was probably insanity.

Carlisle's understanding, ancient eyes gazed down at me, collapsed in a loose-limbed pile on a patch of mossy grass. "Do you believe us now?" The rest of the people – _vampires_ – had filed out of the house and were standing next to us.

I did the only thing possible – I nodded. The brown-haired girl, Bella, smiled. "It's okay, Courtney. You don't have to kill humans to be able to survive." 

Looking at them more closely, I realized Carlisle's eyes were a different color, more reddish than gold. When I asked why, he heaved a sigh. "I had to bite you in order to change you. The human blood changed my eye color."

I inhaled again, and another scent – colder and less appetizing than the other—flooded my senses. "Deer," said the blonde girl – Rosalie? I looked up, to Carlisle. He nodded. "That's a deer." Before the words had even left his mouth, I was once again flying through the forest, utterly focused on getting to my prey.

When I'd regained my senses, I lay next to three deer carcasses. My memories of the "hunt," as they'd called it when I had stopped between my second and third, were fragmented and fuzzy, but the pain in the back of my throat had died down considerably, becoming a light scratching instead of the awful rawness. 

I gasped, leaping to my feet, but the large man's arms stopped me. "Let's get you introduced to everyone, okay?"

Did I have a choice?

I met the Cullens in the forest for the first time that day – Carlisle and his wife Esme, Rosalie and Emmett (the big one whom I'd thrown off), Jasper and Alice, the tiny black-haired pixie, and lastly Edward and Bella.

Looking at all of them, I felt a bit out of place. Even though Carlisle, who acted the oldest, couldn't be more than twenty-five or so, the youngest looked to be either Alice or Edward – and they both looked around seventeen or so.

If what they said was true, I was frozen at fourteen forever. I felt horrible for thinking it – such a selfish thought – but the only thing that ran through my head when they told me I'd stay the same age for eternity was "But I wanted to go to college!"

Edward had heard me, somehow, and told me, "You'll still go to college, somehow." I'd asked how he'd heard me, and he laughed, tapping his skull. "I hear your thoughts." 

With that, he left. Moments later, soft piano music drifted through the house.

I looked up, aware that Carlisle's wife Esme had stayed behind. She gave me a warm look, and said softly, "We're here for you, Courtney."

Just like that, the floodgates opened, and I started to bawl… but no tears came out. Curling up into a ball, I subdued my sobs until they were quiet sniffles; a gentle arm snaked around me. Esme sat next to me, holding me. "Poor child," she murmured. "Such tragedy…"

I looked up at this. "Esme, how did you all become vampires?" 

She gave me a startled look. "It's really… the only happy story of ours is Bella. Are you sure you want to hear them?"

I nodded, eager to disappear into history, a story – anything to get away from the reality of my life now.

Esme seemed to read my mind – I'd thought _Edward_ was the one who could do that! – and began to speak.

"I suppose I'll start with Carlisle… he was born in the sixteen-forties, in London. He was the son of a Protestant pastor, and was changed after finding a coven of vampires hiding in the sewers of the city."

Dimly, I realized that these were going to be abbreviated, but that was overruled by… "Carlisle is over _three hundred_?"

She smiled. "Yes. Edward was changed by Carlisle in Chicago… Nineteen-eighteen, I believe. His parents had died in the Spanish influenza outbreak.

"Three years later, he found me… I'd met Carlisle when I was sixteen, when he'd set a broken leg for me. I'd fallen out of a tree, I think… but I'd jumped off a cliff after my baby had died, and Carlisle found me in the hospital morgue."

"So you were dead?" She shook her head.

"No. My heart was still beating, but I was slipping away quickly."

"Oh."

"Rosalie we… found and changed in Rochester, New York, in the nineteen-thirties. She found Emmett being mauled by a bear in Tennessee about two years later… Jasper and Alice came to us together. They had met up a few years earlier, and Alice had a vision of us.

"I suppose Bella had it much easier than us all in a way. She met Edward ten or twelve years ago, when we were living in Forks. They fell in love, and a few years later, Edward changed Bella, after they got married."

Why did I feel that there was much more to this relationship than she'd said?

"What about you?" she asked suddenly. "What was your life like before the car crash?"

I frowned. My memories were already turning vague. "I liked my cat, Aravis, and my two birds… but I can't remember their names. I think one of them started with a T.

"I was pretty good at English, history, languages… things like that. I don't think I was much good at math. I was learning Spanish… I liked to read, more than anything else in the world. I loved putting myself into another world, if only for the few moments I snatched at the ends of a class while the others talked."

Esme glanced at me, a soft smile on her face. "You should talk to Bella. She's really the reader in this family, especially the classics. Shall we go inside and talk about what you're going to do?"

I nodded grimly, and gave Esme a shaky little grin. "No time like the present?"

She led me back towards the house. As we walked past the window, I caught a glimpse of a beautiful girl, reflected in the glass. When I turned to look, there was no one behind me. Walking towards the thick-paned window, I traced the reflection. 

"Is this… me?"

"Yes."

"Why are my eyes red?" 

One of the girls had come out. I identified the voice as Alice's. "The human blood in your body is reacting to the change. It'll go away in about a year, if you don't hunt humans."

I winced. "Great. That's wonderful. But this doesn't look like me. It looks like an airbrushed model, who just happens to look vaguely like me."

"That's part of the change, too."

"Oh."

Alice smiled. "It all gets easier, trust me. I'll go gather everyone."

Once the eight Cullens and I sat in the pale-green living room, they gathered on the many chairs or couches and I sprawled in a corner, laying on the thick cream carpet.

Carlisle and Edward were arguing, or conversing, one of the two. Edward was the only one speaking, answering Carlisle's thoughts. Occasionally, he would turn to Alice and nod, or speak. I couldn't hear what they were saying.

I cleared my throat. "Um, can I say something?"

Esme, who I had figured out was the mother figure for the makeshift family, gave me a warm look. "Of course, Courtney."

"I don't want to be a burden, so I'll just be… getting ready to leave. Um, if there's a place where I could take a shower—" I was broken off by a shouted "No!" from Edward.

"You can't!" he continued. "You're a newborn; the control doesn't come naturally! You just witnessed it, lived it! We…_ I_ don't think I can let you go into the human world in good conscience." 

Several of the others nodded. "But won't I be a bother?"

Emmett shook his head. "Nah. It's nice to have something new to do. The last big exciting thing was the Volturi coming here a few years ago to make sure Bella was changed. _I_want you to stay!" He smiled; I couldn't help but smile back. His cheerfulness seemed to spread from him to me, and I could feel the subtle manipulating of my emotions that was Jasper's gift. Right now, though, I was curious.

"What's a Volturi?"

Carlisle glanced over at me. "The Volturi are a group of Italian vampires… immortal royalty, if you will. We had a… run-in with them before Bella was changed."

"Oh. Then, um… if my control won't be… you know, good for a while, what am I going to do? You know, to not… murder people?"

Emmett let out a loud, raucous laugh. "Two words: Grizzly bears. Especially in spring."


	3. Counseling

_Chapter Three_

The Cullens were all very nice, that's true, but being cooped up in the house all day was giving me a serious case of cabin fever. I sighed. Alice and Bella had driven to the nearest town – a hundred and fifty miles away – to go book shopping a week ago. With Alice involved and a list of about twelve books that I wanted, I wound up with over a hundred.

Some of them I'd never heard of, but some of them were _mine_… literally. Apparently while Bella was browsing in the books, looking for a new copy of _Wuthering Heights _(hers was falling apart), Alice had darted the sixty-odd miles further south to my old house and picked up a box of my books and some of my clothes. 

How she managed to find my house, I'll never know, but she's been bugging me about my apparent lack of fashion sense ever since she got back. I really wish she would just leave me alone sometimes. I'm an academic, not a fashionista. I don't care about my clothes much.

At least I'm not wearing clothes that don't fit anymore, even if they are just jeans, plain T-shirts and sweatshirts. 

Being a five-foot-ten fourteen-year-old was tough, and since Rosalie was the tallest of the Cullen girls (and I was an inch taller than her!), I'd been relying on lengthened sweatpants that weren't uncomfortable, but let's just say I was glad to have my clothes back. How many zillions of designer clothes does one person – pardon me, vampire – need?

Comfortable clothes aside, though, I've got to start doing something other than sitting and reading – how odd! I remember faking sick once last year (only last year?) because it was long run day in PE and I wanted to read. My human memories are fading quickly, like they're supposed to be….

It's ironic. Now that I have unlimited time to do just that, sit and do nothing but read, the books don't catch my attention as they used to. 

Bella poked her head into the room that the Cullens gave me. She's the one I can most identify with, and I think she empathizes with me, although, as she puts it, "I knew how to deal with Emmett before I was changed." I beat him in an arm-wrestling match last week. Bella says she did that when she was changed, too, so it's nothing to worry about. He's not getting weak.

The thrill of having a new life is wearing off. Since I got here, I haven't broached the subject, but… I was jolted from my thoughts with a "Courtney, do you want to come play baseball? Edward and Jasper need someone on their team."

"Aren't you playing?"

She smiled. "I trip a lot when I run."

"I thought vampires were supposed to be graceful and all."

"Shh! It's my excuse. Edward still thinks I'm human!"

"Whatever you say. Sure, I'll play. Let me get out of my sweatpants."

Alice popped in, too. What was this, Hold a Convention in Courtney's Room Day? I didn't get to ruminate on that thought much, though, as she told me, "Don't change, otherwise you'll end up ripping that new pair of jeans I bought you. Don't think I didn't notice!" She put on a mock-outraged face.

"Yes, ma'am."

Alice, or She Who Knows No Bounds When Presented With A New Little Sister To Shop For, gave me a cheeky grin. "Come on!" She didn't wait for me to say that I wasn't wearing shoes. Oh, well – I'll survive. It's not like I'll get cut on a rock or anything.

Once outside, I was presented with a gathering of six other vampires, given that Bella and Alice walked down with me.

Rosalie and Emmett stood off to the side, tossing a leather-covered ball back and forth. Carlisle was also throwing it back and forth between Jasper and Edward – some kind of bizarre three-cornered catch game with no conceivable pattern.

Alice hurtled over to join the triangular game of catch, and Bella walked over to sit with Esme, perched on a rocky overhang.

I dashed after Alice. "Wait up!" She slowed slightly and turned towards the rocks. 

"Bella…"

Apparently Bella knows what Alice means when she starts talking in a certain tone of voice, because she immediately replied, "Alice, I don't want to play."

Emmett let out another one of his laughs. "What, afraid you're going to trip? I thought we got past human clumsiness twelve years ago."

Hearing the Cullens toss around decades and yes, centuries, in such a casual way always made my head spin. I managed to put the nagging thought that I would likely start doing so as well eventually out of my head.

We fell into our respective teams and fielding positions. It was plain that if we had been closer to humans (we were quite a ways away from any towns, as the Cullens had "disappeared off the face of the earth" after Bella was changed and were just in the process of getting ready to move when I'd come along), we would have been getting police in – especially when Emmett and Alice managed to collide. 

Two hours, two impromptu wrestling matches between Edward, Jasper, and Emmett, and a lost baseball later (it fell into the lake when I couldn't catch Emmett's hit and none of us wanted to go after it), our game was over.

"You know, Bella, I don't think of you as human still," Edward mentioned casually as we all walked in to the house. 

"I thought you couldn't read my mind!" she cried. "Do I not get privacy in my own head?" She was grinning as she said it, though.

"He probably heard it from me," I volunteered.

He nodded smiling at Bella. I walked up the stairs and found my ancient old copy of _The Wizard of Oz._ I'd had it for eight years before I was changed, and Alice said "she had to bring it back because it was pretty obvious it'd been read too many times."

Well, duh, Alice – if the spine slumps open to a certain page when it's opened (more specifically, the poppy field scene), it's been read a few times. I didn't mind, though. I flipped through it, but set it back down. Dorothy and the Tin Man seemed so… childish right now.

I wandered into Jasper's "study." He looked up from the large book lying on the table he was bent over. As it was laid flat, I couldn't see what it was, but he looked up. "Research."

I nodded. "Um, do you know where Alice is?"

He shook his head. "Why?"

"I'm bored, and I figured Alice would have something to do. She's not exactly a person who sits around being bored."

He smiled. "Sorry, I don't know where she is. Would you like to borrow a book or something?"

"Nah. I love to read and all, but I can only read for twenty-four hours straight or so before I… Alice!" 

Tiny pixies of girls shouldn't be able to climb through windows, whispered my still-partly-human brain. Especially not windows on the third floor!

Jasper raised an eyebrow. "Not using the door? I thought _Edward_ was the one who climbed in through windows."

She laughed and glanced at me. "Courtney."

"Present."

"I had a vision…"

I groaned. "Does it involve me being made into Barbie?"

She rolled her eyes. "Come on, it'll be fun. At least let me do something to your hair – you have leaves stuck in it."

"So?"

She towed me into the bathroom attached to her bedroom. Pulling my battered scrunchie from my dark, uncontrollably curly hair, she grabbed a brush.

When I emerged, my hair was miraculously under control. Alice had pulled it back into a thick braid and let me go, saying she wanted to spend some time with Jasper and that she didn't want to confine me (here she winked) past my patience.

Still wandering, I slipped out the front door. Esme was on her knees in the dirt, digging perfectly sized holes and planting delicate blush pink flowers in them.

When she looked up, she grinned. "Want to help?"

It was better than being bored, but gardening at vampire speed doesn't take nearly as long as it did at a human's. We finished in less than ten minutes.

Esme looked at me, eyes seeming to look at me differently than before. "Are you all right, Courtney?"

"Yeah, I guess. Um, Esme, who found me after the accident?"

"Carlisle."

"Thank you."

I left, leaving her slightly perplexed.

I found Carlisle in his study, reading a medical textbook. "Hey, Carlisle."

He smiled when he saw me. "Hello, Courtney. What can I do for you?"

"Are my parents still alive?" He raised his eyebrows. 

"Blunt, aren't you?"

"Yep. Do you know?"

"Yes. Your mother is still in intensive care at a hospital a few hundred miles from here. Your funeral was two days ago. Your mom and dad are going to leave the area as soon as she's well enough to travel and your little brother's school arrangements can be organized."

I sagged with relief. _Whew._ "How did they hold a funeral without a body?"

He shrugged. "Someone in town mentioned the funeral. I didn't press as I'm not supposed to know who you are."

I nodded. "Carlisle…"

"Hmm?"

"Thank you. For telling me, I mean."

I left after that, Carlisle looking indulgently after me. For all that the man is only in his mid-twenties physically, and a vampire, I don't think I'll ever meet his equal in compassion. If it was fate that I was changed into a vampire, I'm glad Carlisle was the one who did it.

I went upstairs and snagged my old copy of _William Shakespeare: The Complete Works._ Curling up on the squishy leather couch downstairs, I opened the thick book randomly. 

_Romeo and Juliet_. No. Although I loved it, I was already depressed.

_Hamlet_. Nope. Not in the mood for a grisly ending, thanks.

_Macbeth._ Sheesh! What was it with the book opening to the tragedies?

_Much Ado About Nothing_. Yay! Something not sad!

Before I could even get past the first scene, I was restless. I put it down and stood up. Something in me was making me uncomfortable, and I couldn't put my finger on it. Maybe Jasper could tell me?

When I entered the room, Jasper and Alice were talking quietly. I cleared my throat, and Alice looked up. "Hey!"

"Hi, Alice. Jasper, can I ask you a favor?"

"I suppose so. What can I do?"

"Can you tell me what I'm feeling?"

"Excuse me?" I suppose that did sound a bit demented.

He obliged me, though, closing his eyes to concentrate better. He looked at me appraisingly. "How long have you been here?" 

I had to think. Not being able to measure by night and day, I was forced to look at a calendar. "Two weeks?"

He nodded. "Let me go find Emmett. He and Rosalie are fine-tuning the Jeep."

"Why do we need Emmett?"

"You're _thirsty_. Have you been feeling this way for long?"

"Yeah," I admitted shamefacedly. "Sorry."

"Don't be. It'll get better eventually."

With Emmett in tow and the rest of the Cullens knowing where we were going, I set off with Jasper.

_I don't know why I like being around Jasper_, I mused as we ran. _Maybe it's because he respects me; he knows I don't like being around too many people at once. But he and Alice are the ones I've spent the most time with here. Or maybe it's because he knows what I'm feeling and he can understand it…_

A whiff of something floated on the breeze. Emmett, looking at me, motioned. He was grinning. 

"Grizzly bear?" I guessed.

He nodded, a happy expression plastered on his open face. "A grumpy one."

"How do you know?"

"Practice."

"Right," I said as I took off running, following my food.

As I sat, covered in the blood from two bears, something snapped. I started to dry-sob, and Emmett hurtled over. He may not be as fast as Edward, but he's still pretty quick.

"What's wrong, Courtney?"

"I'm never going to see my parents again. My mum's in the ICU. My funeral was yesterday. I'm going to spend the rest of my life drinking bear blood. I won't be able to see my little brother ever again! And you ask me what's wrong?"

"Chill, Courtney. I'm not Edward, so I can't read minds, and I'd appreciate you not yelling at me. Now, slow down and we'll talk. I'm here for you. We all are!

"I can't do much about your parents or your little brother, but I went through the same thing. So did Rosalie. We both left parents and siblings. Jasper had a little sister and his parents, too.

"And yeah, it hurts, but trust me, it'll get better. Don't go into denial or anything, and remember that little brothers are a pain in the butt sometimes. I would know – I was one!" He laughed. "Seriously, though, I wouldn't say _forget_ your family, but your memories of them will fade. Most of mine have, although I can still remember a couple of tricks I played on my older sisters." 

He paused, a pensive expression on his face suddenly. We'd somehow gone from standing in the middle of a forest to sitting on a rock. We weren't so deep into our conversation that we'd just forget where we were, were we?

"The blood thing gets easier, so don't worry. We'll get you through it. We're not going to let you turn into a murderer. With the whole funeral thing, well, funerals aren't fun. We'll have to fake a death in about ten years. I think Alice is due to die next. And we'll all go to her funeral."

"But Emmett, my parents. Won't they be awfully sad?"

"Of course. Wouldn't you be? But they'll live their lives, probably to benefit your little brother. What's his name?"

"Zander."

"That's quite… unusual."

"He doesn't like Alexander, so he shortened it."

"I see. Is there anything else you'd like to rant at me about?"

"Umm, is it true I'll have to go through high school more than once?"

"Yeah. That's how we met Bella."

"Joy. More math."

"Ask Edward for help. He's pretty good with numbers." He grinned. "Give me a football any day!"

"Thanks, Emmett. For everything."

"Nah, it's nothing. Should we go back?"

"Yeah."

_I'm on a roll, people! And it's a croissant! I love croissants. _

_Well! I'm actually amazed that I _can_ write this fast. I don't think I've ever written this much in a week. It's therapeutical, and I feel quite loved due to the reviews._

_I've been getting some really positive feedback for this story, and even though I might not mention you by name, if you've reviewed my story, I thank you. It sounds cheesy, but a review alert e-mail made me get off my sniffly, weeping butt and write. It made my hellish day better, although I'd welcome any constructive criticism!_

_And just for the record, while I was listening to this I had _Requiem for a Tower _on repeat. Not necessarily mood music for the chapter, but it fit mine._

_-Star_


	4. Additions

_Ahh, fanfiction… that wonderful source of life and entertainment… yeah, I'll shut up._

_I'm glad that the one review I got liked this – bookandsugarinducedcoma (Did I spell that right?) thanks. You've been with me so far, and I appreciate it! _

_-Shameless plug for other reviews- Please? Anything that's left is great. _

_Oh, boy. I've been busy this week, since it's the end of the quarter, so I'm frantically trying to get in end-of-quarter assignments. Teachers made them due all at pretty much the same time, so I've been a little slammed. But it's spring break now, so… more time for writing._

_Gah. –whacks head on desk- The next chapter is going to kick my butt bad, since I'm hauling in characters I know next to nothing about. Is it possible to have characters that we've never met in the Twilight-verse be OOC?_

_Yep. Sprained an ankle at my first attempt at snowboarding. Board went one way, I went the other. –sigh-_

_Also: if there is anyone who would mind doing a beta-read for me, I would be _most _grateful... Just to make sure I haven't missed anything, or for feedback, or whatever..._

_Okay. I hereby state, since my brain is too stuffed with math formulas to think of anything witty, that none of these characters except Courtney are mine, and I'm only using the ones that aren't mine. I'm not Stephenie Meyer, and I'm not making money off this. Lawyers, you can't get me now! … On with the chapter._

* * *

I lay spread-eagled over the bed in my room, eyes closed, with my CD player giving off soft music. I wasn't sure what was on; I wasn't paying much attention. When the lights and CD player went off, though, I jumped up.

"What happened?" I called.

"Power outage," Carlisle said. I think he and Esme were talking downstairs.

I trotted down the wide, dark wood steps. "Can I help fix it?"

Carlisle, sitting with an arm around Esme on the couch, shrugged. "Find Emmett or Rosalie; I think they're the ones figuring out why the power went out."

I listened carefully, picking out Edward and Bella up in their room, arguing over a fine point of some book.

Alice and Jasper were upstairs. I didn't want to think about what they were doing right now. Enhanced vampire senses do have their drawbacks when one is permanently four years or so younger than people frozen in the height of sexual maturity.

Emmett and Rosalie… Hmmm. I slid outside. "Emmett?"

"Hi!" he shouted, from his rather precarious perch on top of the house.

"Emmett, what are you doing?"

"Checking the solar panels!" He was bent over one of the large things on top of the house. I'd never thought to ask what they were. _Guess I know, now._

Rosalie smiled at me and rolled her eyes. "He didn't want me to check, for reasons unknown."

Just then… "Aha! Rose, can you come up and look at this?" She muttered something under her breath. It sounded vaguely like "Just after you tell me to please stay on the ground…?"

Rosalie clambered up gracefully; She bent, too; she nodded after looking at it, tinkered with something, and thirty seconds later the lights flared to life inside the house.

"Thank you, Emmett! Thanks, Rosalie."

"You're welcome. Why were you so excited about it?"

I shrugged lopsidedly, raising only one shoulder. "I was listening to a CD, and had nothing better to do."

He grinned at me. "Cabin fever?"

"Like you wouldn't believe."

Rosalie leapt down from the roof and landed gracefully on her feet. "What do you want to do?"

I shrugged lopsidedly again. "I don't know. I've run through all my old books, through my CDs twice… I don't know what else I've tried to do. Edward and I played chess…"

"Well, that's a mistake." Emmett was _laughing_ at me. "Ever seen him and Alice play?"

"No," I admitted. "But I've only been here three months. I have nine more months of this, and then lockdown while I learn control?" I groaned when he and Rosalie nodded.

"Argh!" Persuading Emmett to come with me, I went running.

I wasn't sure what I was running to, or running from. Even though I wasn't particularly thirsty, when I caught the scent of a mountain lion, I caught it easily – and drained it. I couldn't help myself.

_I was still restless._

Emmett and I loped back to the house. I dove into the stream, cold as anything, but I didn't feel it. _One of the perks of being a vampire_, I thought. _I can swim anywhere the heck I want._ My grim good humor didn't last long, as I slipped back into to the house, toweling off with a thick, fluffy white piece of terrycloth.

Esme was painting the dining room. Soft blue over white, blue over white… It was hypnotic.

"Esme?"

"Yes, dear?"

"I hate to sound whiny, but…"

"She's bored," murmured Edward, coming into the room. He raised an eyebrow at me. Bella trailed in after him, nose in a book. "See, Edward, it's right… oh, hi, Courtney."

I nodded. "Hi. Bella, what did you do while you were on lockdown?"

She shrugged. "Read a lot, let Alice dress me up – she has a fascination, I swear! -- I learned Italian, worked on my Spanish till I was completely fluent, read some more… Painted the house with Esme once… Um, I learned calligraphy, on a whim. I did Rosalie and Emmett's wedding 'invitations,' that they sent out to the Denali clan."

"Basically what one would do on an extended summer vacation, punctuated by…'food?'"

"Yes, pretty much."

I groaned. "Where can I find a list of books that I haven't read? Or a language-learning program, or something?"

Esme looked up from her painting. I wondered why the paint fumes didn't irritate my nose, as they had when I'd helped my aunt paint her new baby's room when I was twelve.

I looked at them all. "Does anyone here have vellum art paper and dry pastels?"

They exchanged looks. "No… I don't believe so. We have computer paper and pencils, though," said Esme.

"Sheesh, out of everything that you guys _do_ have, there's no art paper?" I teased. "I'm going to ask Alice if she can go find some for me, or something. I need to do something, or I'll explode!" I paused. "She and Jasper are, um, _finished_, aren't they?"

Edward chuckled. "Yes. They're watching a movie or something."

"Okay." I dashed up the stairs and rapped lightly on the door of Jasper and Alice's bedroom.

"Come in!" that was Alice's light, silvery voice.

I pushed open the door. Playing on the wide-screen TV was some sort of thriller movie; I cast a questioning glance at them. Jasper smirked. "_Premonition_." Rolling my eyes, I spoke to Alice.

"Could you do me a favor?"

"Does it involve me in an art supply store?"

"Yes."

"I thought so. What do you need?" She glanced at me.

"A tablet of acid-free, heavy vellum and some pastels… I'm not sure where mine are, since they didn't come with the books you managed to… procure."

She shrugged. "I didn't think about anything else. But don't worry, we can get the pastels. Do you want dry pastels or oil pastels?"

I shrugged, too. "Either will work. And some decent drawing pencils?"

Alice smiled at me. "Cabin fever?"

"Yeah. You sound just like Emmett."

"Heaven forbid," she laughed. Jasper chuckled too, especially when a howled "I heard that!" filtered through the walls.

Alice looked out the large bay window, over the window seat piled high with books. Examining them, I found everything from a diagnostic medical text to a history book, "Great Generals of the Civil War." The sky opened up just then, changing from a very fine, unnoticeable mist to a heavy shower.

"I'll wait until the rain clears up to drive in to town."

"Thanks, Alice."

I slid back into my room. I'd only been inside for ten minutes or so before Alice came barreling down the stairs, calling, "Everyone! I need to talk to you!"

We all gathered in the comfortable living room. Alice sat in Jasper's lap, on the biggest cream armchair. Emmett sat in a beanbag chair, Rosalie leaning against him. Bella and Edward were curled up on the couch, mirroring Carlisle and Esme. I collapsed into the other easy chair.

"What's wrong, Alice?" Carlisle asked.

She shook her head. "Oh, nothing… the Denali clan is going to be here in three days or so. You'll get a phone call in two minutes and forty-two seconds, on your cell phone, from Tanya's."

"Who all is in the Denali clan?" I inquired. "You've all mentioned them, but… I don't know anything past the fact that they, well, live in Denali." Stopping, I asked Bella, "Didn't you say that you were going to live in Alaska for a while?"

She lifted a shoulder carelessly. "We decided Canada was a better idea."

"Wait, we're in Canada?"

Chuckles and laughing.

"Yes, we're in Canada. _You_ lived in northern Minnesota. We just took you across the border." _How did they manage to get me across the border, through security?_ I wondered.

"Anyway," Alice continued, "The Denali clan is made out of Katrina, Tanya, and Irina, along with Carmen and Eleazar. Ever heard of a succubus?"

I shook my head. "Is this some sort of North American mythology? I did Roman and Greek, but not the Native American stuff."

She shook her head. "No, but succubi are mystic…" she trailed off. Emmett butted in. "They seduce men and then kill them."

"I see. Why are you telling me this, again?"

"Tanya, Kate, and Irina are the birth of the succubi legend. They're _ancient_. I think the three of them were born around 1000 AD…" She glanced over at Carlisle for confirmation, who affirmed this with a slight dip of his head. Just then, soft music drifted out of Carlisle's cell phone. I couldn't identify the singer, a girl singing in a foreign language, but it was a beautiful, calming song that called to mind rushing creeks and moss.

Carlisle picked up. "Hello, Tanya." A pause. "Yes, we're quite amenable to the idea. We have a… new addition to the family." Another pause, during which he glanced over at Edward. They locked eyes. Edward nodded almost imperceptibly. "Yes, that's right. When can you all come up? … Yes, Friday would be fine. I'll see you then. Goodbye, Tanya."

He looked at all of us. "Originally, they were wondering if they could come to live with us for a while. Apparently the humans that they see on a semi-regular basis are starting to get suspicious, so…"

"Wait," I said, confused. "Are there all that many people near Denali?"

"No, not really. But Tanya said they wanted a 'change of scenery,' so… I suppose they'll be here soon. They're going to drive over."

Esme glanced at me. "Will it be all right for you, with five new people in the house?"

I shrugged. "I guess so."


	5. Meetings

_-waves- Hi! We're back!_

_I was really surprised when I went to check my e-mail last night. I pretty much went "Holy cow…" I've never had that many people put in reviews/story alerts/whatever. I'm glad to see that people enjoy my story so far._

_In response to one of the reviews: Courtney looks fourteen or so, but because she's tall, she could potentially pass for older. I speak from experience when I say that most people acquaint height in young teens with age. So, hypothetically, nineteen at the _very _oldest, and that would be stretching it. I hope I'll be able to address this better later, but I also hope this answered your question._

_The Denali coven _refused_ to cooperate with me. I'm not sure why – maybe just because we don't know all that much about them, but I had the most _awful _time with this chapter._

_I have a huge confession to make. Two, actually: One, I'm starting to slow down on these a little. I'm currently not too busy at school, but I'm finding that my motivation isn't as great as it was a few weeks ago. Never fear, this tale shall not be forsaken! _

_The other? Yeah, I'm not Stephenie Meyer, and I don't own Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, or anything affiliated with said books. How on _earth_ did all of you guess?_

_-does the Johnny Carson introduction- Heeere's Courtney… and the rest of the Cullens, of course._

According to Alice, "The Denali Coven" would be here in a little over an hour. I really wish that I knew a little bit more about the people I was to be meeting, but all the Cullens would tell me is "Don't worry, they're nice."

The only person in my new family who had gone more in-depth than that had been Bella… but she'd spoken of them friends, too, even though from what I'd heard she'd been jealous of them at one point.

I sighed heavily, rummaging through my too-full closet. Only about a quarter of the clothes were ones I'd worn prior to being changed… and some of them didn't fit as well as they used to. They were looser.

I hauled myself out of the room. "Alice?" I spoke quietly, knowing she would hear me, and sure enough she popped up a few seconds later.

"What can I do?"

"Alice, this is going to sound like a horrifyingly stupid question."

"There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers."

"Is the sky blue?"

She glanced outside. "No. It's cloudy out, can't you see?"

_Stupid irrefutable logic._ "What do I wear?"

"What, to meet everyone? Clothes."

"Really?"

"You're being sarcastic."

"You're a regular Sherlock, aren't you, Alice?"

She laughed at me. "Wear jeans and that nice black top."

"Thank you."

I left Alice to… whatever she'd been doing and went to go change. The jeans I'd been thinking about were muddy, remnants of our last game of ball. I hadn't washed them yet. _I really need to do laundry. _

I found my best pair of jeans and tugged them on. I went into my bathroom and played with my hair for a few minutes, before giving up on it and grabbing a grey scrunchie.

Pulling out a book, I waited. Harry Potter would have to entertain me for the time being.

Forty-five minutes later, I heard a car pull up the long gravel drive. A dark blue SUV-type thing had just been turned off; a dark-haired woman was sliding out of the driver's side.

I walked downstairs and met up with the rest of the Cullens. Jasper raised an eyebrow at me, obviously sensing the churning sensation in my stomach. I slid over to Esme's side and slipped my hand into hers; she gave me a little one-armed hug.

It's amazing what those little hugs can do.

The door opened (did they not knock or anything?) and Carlisle's face broke into a broad smile. "Hello, everyone."

The blonde one – Tanya – was laughing with Rosalie over something, with Emmett in the background; I wasn't paying attention. The darker-haired girls, Kate and Irina, were talking to Bella, Edward, Alice, and Jasper. The older ones – Carmen and Eleazar – discussed current events with Carlisle and Esme.

Suffice to say, I was feeling a bit left out, but I wasn't about to say anything. I dashed upstairs quietly and found a book.

While I was upstairs, I heard a female voice – I believe it was Katrina's – say, "So, Carlisle, where's the new family member?" before Edward's voice murmured "Upstairs."

"No, she's not," I said softly, coming back downstairs. "Sorry. I was getting a book."

Their conversation seemed to include me without any effort from then on.

Looking at the way the evening progressed, I was left wondering what had happened between Bella, Edward, and Tanya. She was civilized and warm towards both of them, and seemed to enjoy their company (and vice versa) but she avoided them a little, almost like seeing them together was hard for her.

She didn't seem like the type to hold grudges, though. Intriguing, but not really enough to investigate in my mind.

I had to say, after all was said and done (and I was in the privacy of my own room) that I think Katrina was probably the one I'd felt most comfortable with. She had been nice to me, sitting with me while some of the other "kids" were playing poker. I'd never learned. _Mental note: Ask Emmett how to play._

Edward and Alice were barred from playing. Tanya had laughed, clearly remembering something; I didn't ask what.

Just as I was getting really comfortable with the Cullens – my new family! – these new people show up…

I'd _never _been a social butterfly, often preferring to eat quickly and sit in the library during lunch at school. Parties had never been my "thing," and here I was getting tossed into a world much larger than I expected.

"The Denali Clan" was going to stay in the extra bedrooms in the basement. I had yet to venture into the parts of the house I didn't use every day. I tucked that snippet of information away (something to do when I got too bored!) and flopped onto my bed, wishing for the sixteen billionth time that I could sleep.

The next morning (technically, at least) when everyone had meandered downstairs, I poked Bella and Alice quietly. "Hey, guys, would you come with me outside?"

Alice turned those far-seeing eyes on me, and a smile lit up her face. "Thirsty?"

"Yeah."

"We'll all go!" This seemed like such an odd statement to me, but apparently to the rest of them it was nothing new.

Carlisle gave us a glance. "We'll all go."

"Go where?" I was completely lost.

"Well, on a hunting trip, of course!" Emmett ruffled my hair. "Sheesh, Carlisle, we haven't done that in… gosh, twelve years? Before we moved to Forks. Remember hunting in Russia?" His face broke into a broad grin. "Now, that was fun."

"You and Rosalie went to Africa!" called Bella.

"Yeah, so? We haven't had a family trip in a long time. Come on, Rose, let's go pack."

He bounded up the stairs. Rosalie rolled her eyes. "Doesn't even _consider_ waiting to find out where we're going…"

A thought popped into my head. "Carlisle, if my control isn't all that wonderful yet, how are we going to Russia or Africa…?"

A chuckle ran throughout the room. "What'd I say?"

Alice hooked an arm around my neck – quite a feat, considering I'm a full foot taller than her. "We'll just go somewhere we can drive, silly!"

_Oh._ I was never so glad that I couldn't blush as at that moment. I wasn't prone to blushing all the time when I was human (as I'd been informed Bella had), but it was nice not to feel a rush of heat to my face all the same.

And so, the preparations for a month-long jaunt out of our little corner woods began…


	6. Music

**  
The Beginning of the End**

**Chapter Six : Music**

**Too tired to think of a witty disclaimer. Just pretend that Alice is over there, yelling "Star doesn't own anything but the plot and Courtney!" Thank you for your participation.**

I sat, staring absently out of the window. Trees, taller than I'd ever seen before, whizzed by – Edward drove _fast_. I think it was a vampire thing, because Alice was zipping down the road behind us, keeping pace easily. I couldn't see Emmett's Jeep or Tanya's SUV, but I knew they were behind us, having left later than we did.

There was soft classical music playing, something that I couldn't identify. I'd become familiar with _Clair de Lune_ and the rest of Debussy already, as they were some of Bella and Edward's favorites, but this was something new.

As we passed through an absolutely _tiny_ town – population One Hundred and Nineteen, according to their welcome sign – I was glad more than ever that the windows were up and none of the air from the outside got into the silver Volvo. I didn't want to think about how bad my control was, after only four months as a vampire.

We would have left three weeks ago (Emmett was more than ready to leave the day it was suggested), but arrangements had to be made at the little clinic that Carlisle was currently working at. Because it was so small, any of their three doctors leaving represented a fair crisis, so Carlisle had to leave three week's notice before he left for longer than one shift's worth -otherwise known as take _any_ vacations, even weekends.

As one can probably tell, if Carlisle had been susceptible to sickness, the tiny little place would have fallen apart.

I gave a sigh, sinking back into the leather backseat. I was the only other one in the car. Alice, Jasper, Carlisle, and Esme were in one car; Rosalie, Emmett and our stuff occupied the Jeep.

The five people of the "Denali Coven" – I had yet to learn if any of them had last names - followed with all of their things in the dark blue car.

Camping, I had learned, as a vampire was much easier than as a human. We didn't need to haul along food, for one thing. As for another? No sleeping bags!

I must have passed several hours staring into space, thinking about absolutely nothing, because when I next was aware of my surroundings we had passed out of the thick trees and into sparsely wooded hills. It was beginning to snow, fat flakes drifting down in an absolutely mesmerizing sway against the darkening sky.

Edward pulled into a turn, headlights on now, down a narrow gravel road lined with thicker trees than the hills around us. It was bumpy, and I soon gave up trying to read because of the jolting.

Watching the trees bounce past in the scant light from the headlights, I wondered idly how we were going to go camping, since I knew that I had to be pretty far away from the humans… and we'd just turned into a camping ground.

"Um, Edward…?"

He let out a low laugh. "Cover story. We have the farthest-back site, more than a mile from any others in the high season."

"But it's November."

"Exactly. No one else is here."

Bella twisted around and smiled at me, her brown hair falling gently over one shoulder. "We did this when I was first changed, too. It's not hard at all, really. Just run quickly."

"Okay," I squeaked.

I felt bad about letting everyone else unload, I really did, but none of us wanted to risk having me within _miles_ of the ranger station, with its lone woman sitting at the desk.

Alice stuck her inky black head through the door that she'd opened. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be…"

I slipped out easily and fell into what would have passed as a light jog, except that I could see a little rabbit running alongside of me... then dropping out of sight. I'd been informed that small game, like rabbits, wouldn't have any affect on me, and apparently it was true. _Small favors_.

I continued to run until a wind raced though the trees, carrying with it the scent of something large and endothermic. I almost laughed at my thoughts, realizing that eighth-grade science popped into my brain when I least expected it… before some recently discovered part of my mind took over and I raced toward the scent.

I don't remember much between the time that I caught the scent and when I knelt next to a huge bear with blood spattered on the ground.

Emmett darted into the clearing, an action that, when coupled with his muscular physique, looked completely out of place. "Dang it, Courtney! Try going after Edward's mountain lion, will you?"

"No." I stuck my tongue out at him, and he let out one of his infamous guffaws that faded into the distance as I searched for more game.

Sitting around a campfire (which, in all honesty, I didn't see the point of), a thousand miles from anywhere, trading songs and stories with my new family and their friends, was some of the most fun I'd had in months.

I think Alice was especially fascinated with the concept of "campfire songs." When asked if any of them had gone to camp, I received shakes of the head from all but one.

When I enquired, Bella looked down. "I fell into the lake, tripped over a root, and managed to spill my overnight bag's contents onto the floor of the cabin within two hours of getting there. I went home two days into it because the camp refused to be liable for any injuries…"

Laughter rocked the little clearing, from Alice's bells to Emmett's booming roars.

Suddenly, Edward jumped up. "Where are my keys?" I reached underneath myself; against the duffel bag I was leaning against, and tossed them to him. He snatched them out of the air and tore out of the clearing.

I looked at everyone else. Esme, Tanya, and Carmen all gave me shrugs. Carlisle gazed in the direction Edward had gone, a small frown on his face.

He was gone for almost twenty minutes, and came back carrying a _keyboard._ When Rosalie and Bella raised their eyebrows in almost perfect synchronicity, he explained in his velvet voice, "Alice."

He set it up in front of a conveniently placed rock. "Could you sing a few of the songs, Courtney?"

I stammered, "But they're meant to be done with a guitar, usually… normal humans don't just lug pianos out into the woods, you know."

Nevertheless, I started singing the first song I'd learned in my Brownie days: "Kookaburra."

By the time I'd finished going through most of my stock, and Bella had added one or two that she'd remembered from her "ill-fated camp days," the sun was lightening the horizon, tinting it a delicate blush rose.

When asked if I knew any others, I looked at the sky. "It's the wrong time."

Surprisingly, it was Irina who gave me the confused look. Edward shrugged at me. "It doesn't really matter, you know…to us, night and day are kind of irrelevant."

"There is that." Taking a deep (but unnecessary) breath, I began, "Day is done… gone the sun…" when Jasper broke in.

"The Army of the Potomac wrote this as a Lights Out call during the Civil War."

I turned to look at him. "And you would know this… how?"

He gave a little half-smile, half-smirk. "Some of the Confederate units we met up with had picked it up. I learned it, from listening to the buglers practice. I guess I forgot that somewhere along the line, someone tacked lyrics onto it."

His voice continued where I'd left off, and soon enough everyone was singing.

This was a lot better than campfires at Girl Scouts.

_These chapters seem to be getting shorter… I'm not quite sure what to say about that, other than "Arrgh."  
_

_Most of this was written pretty late, so if I made any blatant mistakes that Spell Check didn't catch, please let me know._

_About "Taps"- I couldn't resist. I love the song, and actually went and did research on it to make sure it'd fit into the timeline. Hypothetically, it could have happened, since some of the Confederate units picked up the song after a bugler in the Army of the Potomac wrote it. It was written in 1862, and according to the Lexicon, Jasper was changed around 1863._

_Meadowsong: Bella is already a vampire in this, therefore… she doesn't have any blood for Courtney to go after. Thank you for your kind review!_

_Kat-L-Black: Will this keep you from going insane?_


	7. Questions

**The Beginning of the End**

_**Chapter Seven**_

_**I'm not Stephenie**_

_**You've seen straight through**_

_**The lawyers are yelling**_

'_**Cause they can't sue.**_

_**Don't own any of the characters from the books. Plot's mine; Courtney's mine. And my computer. I own that, too.**_

_**On with the chapter!**_

I sat fifteen feet or so off the ground on a conveniently sturdy branch, absently picking out the appearing constellations. Edward and Bella were taking a walk, but the rest of my extended family was gathered around Carmen and Eleazar, who were telling a story of some sort.

I paid them no attention, too lost in thought. I was busily recalling the fragmented memories I could still dredge up.

_My aunt Shelley, crying with happiness as my favorite cousin was married. _I'd been nine.

_My little brother rigging my bedroom door with the classic bucket scam._ I'd been ten, wet, and ticked.

_Dad, coming home after a day at the office, and swinging me around like an airplane. _That one – I couldn't remember how young I'd been. The house I remembered was the one I'd lived in until I was eight, on the Oregon coast. Mediterranean décor, with tiles everywhere.

_The fight I'd had with my mom, the day that I wanted to spend the night with my friends at a sleepover and my grandmother was due to come. _That had been three weeks before The Accident.

_My brief stint in the spotlight as Juror Number Four in a fifth-grade play._ Age eleven.

Time flashed before my eyes, but even my memories that I'd clung to as a human – winning the class spelling bee in sixth grade, getting my cat… they were filmy and distant, like I was watching them in a soap bubble.

I shook myself out of my reverie, alarmed to notice that the sun had gone from setting to completely out of sight. Only Alice stood beneath me. "And they say I daydream too much."

I jumped down, landing gently on my feet. "Yeah, yeah…" Suddenly, I noticed the warmth. Since I was under a tree, I didn't sparkle (finding out that I glittered had been one interesting afternoon) but it was much warmer than it had been in a while. "Alice, what's the date?"

"May ninth."

"_What_?"

"It's a Saturday," she added.

"But… Alice! It can't be May!"

That darling black-haired Tinkerbelle that we all know, love, and are irritated by laughed. "It most certainly can. We're thinking it's time to go home, though. Rosalie and I are both dying from lack of shopping!"

I rolled my eyes and started walking back.

Suddenly, Alice stopped me and placed her hands on my shoulders, giving a little hop. Then, she smiled broadly. "Your eyes!"

Completely befuddled, I just stared at her. She fished a little mirror out of her pocket and handed it to me.

"Alice! My eyes are _orange_!"

"No they aren't. They are a mix of red and gold."

"Orange."

"Citrus!"

We dashed down to the campsite at top speed to pack up. We'd leave in the morning.

As the four-car caravan drove down the slim dirt road to the main part of the camp, my eyes were drawn to the campgrounds.

"Why are all these people here?"

I was riding with Edward and Bella again. No one had said so in so many words, but I knew I was here so Edward would know if I was close to losing control. _Gotta love the telepathic vampire. Thanks, Edward._

He took his eyes from the stereo and twisted around to look at me; I couldn't tell whether it was because of my thoughts or the question I'd asked out loud. I squeaked. "Can't you look at the road?"

"What is wrong with my driving?" he asked Bella plaintively. She pretended to think deeply. "You drive like a drunken and crazed maniac."

"I do not," he said, deeply offended. "You said it yourself; I'm a good driver... Do you remember the day in the meadow? I never even swerved, much less put any of us in danger."

"Be that as it may, Edward, it's human tendency to want to look at the road. And whatever Alice says, Courtney has only been a vampire for about a year and she's not used to everything yet!"

"Um, as interesting as this conversation is, why are we going through the campground if it's filled with… humans?"

He twisted to look at me again. "Haven't you noticed? We've been moving steadily closer for almost two months. If you haven't been bothered by it, then that's wonderful. Your control is getting better."

"Really? Wait; has it really been a year? Is that why my eyes are orange now instead of red?"

"What is this, twenty questions?" Bella laughed. "Yes, it is. Of course, you'll probably need another year or so before your control's really good, or even acceptable."

"Hasn't Jasper been doing this for a lot longer than that? You said he had control issues when you were human."

Edward flinched. Bella's eyes flicked toward him. "He was much more used to instant gratification."

Edward nodded. "I was living in Ashland with Carlisle in 1920. I'd only been changed two years before. Being out here for so long with Bella was merely a precautionary measure."

"Okay." I nodded. Only another year, then I could get on with whatever life I now had.

Behind us, I saw the other car turn down a road to take them to Denali.

"Esme, may I redecorate my room?"

"Of course. What were you thinking of doing to it?"

I looked down. "I miss carpet. I love the wood floors, but… carpet is comforting."

She nodded. "Alice will go shopping for you gladly. That girl would go shopping for different kinds of dust bunnies if the need arose."

"You don't have to tell me. Do you know where she is?"

"I think she's up in her room." Esme pushed a strand of wavy hair behind her ear and stood up. "The garden is really starting to look quite nice." The yard behind the house was complete with a re-directed stream and a riot of blooming color. It was easy to see where my family's passions were.

Esme's was the garden; Edward's showed in his massive CD collection. They had started to spill off of the shelves into boxes; I'd noticed on my last visit that he had four shoeboxes full of the slim CD cases.

Bella and Jasper both had wall-to-wall bookshelves (Bella's warring with Edward's CDs for space), and I had the feeling I might be joining that little club soon.

Carlisle had his study, with the paintings hung on the wall. I'd spent a lazy afternoon in there once, imagining what England was like back then. I'd always been fascinated with pre-eighteenth century culture.

Alice had her closets (so, to some extent, did Rosalie), Emmett had his video game consoles (each expertly set up, of course) and Rosalie had the little garage set aside from the house.

Each was a labor of love, and Esme's certainly showed.

"It's turning out beautifully," I agreed, and went to look for Alice.

I found her sitting on her bed, staring at the ceiling. I looked at the stereo that her headphones were plugged into. I didn't recognize the singer, but I didn't really expect to. Alice has some very odd taste in music.

"Alice, are you up for shopping?"

"What am I shopping for?"

"Carpet." She eyed me. "Why am I going carpet shopping?"

"Call it impulse. Esme is catching – I want to re-decorate my room."

She grinned. "Okay. What do you want?"

I surveyed my freshly-carpeted room, decked out in a light cream shag so thick that my feet disappeared when I put them down.

I laid down on it for the pure pleasure of the softness, and got out a book, but before I could get into the story Emmett's head poked through my door. "Courtney, do you know what day it is…?"

I looked at my calendar, the one that Alice had gotten me. It had a picture of Niagara Falls on it. "July nineteenth?"

He rolled his eyes. "Yes!"

"Emmett, dearest _darling_ brother of mine, what is so special about July nineteenth?"

He gave me an appraising look. "You could do a Rosalie impersonation very well."

"HEY!" Rosalie's voice came up from the living room, clear and loud.

Emmett laughed and picked me up. I wiggled out of his grip and darted downstairs, flopping in front of the empty fireplace. "Seriously, will someone tell me what's so darn special about July nineteenth?"

Carlisle gave me a fond, fatherly smile. "One year."

"Has it really been a year since I was changed?" It seemed like just a few weeks sometimes, more like an extended vacation than a new life.

Alice nodded. "And we were curious about something."

"Alicceeee…" I whined. "You're always curious. You're like the bloody monkey, and I'm the man with the yellow hat!"

Only Bella got the _Curious George_ reference. I guess when one is frozen at an average age of eighteen or nineteen, kid's books don't make much of a difference – especially when one is technically forty years old when it comes out.

She shrugged after I explained it. "Do you think that you could have a power of some sort?"

"Uh, Alice? Wouldn't it have shown itself before this?" Was it really all that common for vampires to have powers? From what I knew, only Edward, Alice, and Jasper had a 'power.'

"No. Bella's didn't show for almost two years." Huh?

"Bella? What can you do?" She smiled, a little sadly. "I can sense non-humans within a certain radius."

"Really? So you could tell when the Denali clan was going to be here, before they were too close?"

She closed her eyes briefly. "It's much like that, yes."

I was intrigued, now. "So can you sense only vampires, or anything else… is there anything else?"

Edward's eyes hardened slightly, but Bella nodded. "Know where Forks is?"

"Vaguely."

"Okay, there's an Indian reservation there, called La Push. A bunch of the teenagers-" Edward broke in. "Not teenagers, love. Jacob would be over thirty now." She sighed. "Fine. A few of the people there can turn into giant wolves. And they smell _awful_, now. Pity, that."

Now I was really interested. "But didn't you say that a human trait that's exaggerated becomes a power, sometimes?"

Alice nodded. "Bella had a knack for running into supernatural creatures."

"I ran and found the first ones I could when I went without Edward for a while," Bella laughed. Rosalie's eyes flickered slightly; Esme's face twitched. Bella might be fine with talking about "being without Edward" now, but it was obviously a sore subject.

I might have been here for a year, but in some ways I was still just getting to know these eight people.

"Anyway," piped up Alice, "it is kind of rare for powers to manifest themselves. Can you think of anything that could be intensified?"

I shook my head. "I was normal, Alice. I think. Other than being fiercely anti-conformism at school, which _did _not make me popular with the Abercrombie clones."

She raised an eyebrow. "Is this why you refuse to wear a quarter of the clothes I bought?"

"Ummmm… pretty much, yes."

"Okay, then. Now I know what not to shop for."

"We're getting off the point," Esme reminded all of us quietly. "We didn't call you down here just to talk about the admittedly strange things some of my children can do."

"Do you feel ready to start working harder on your control?" Carlisle asked me softly.

I gulped. "Will you all stop me if something goes wrong?"

"Yes." Carlisle.

"Of course!" Bella.

"I'll be watching the future, don't worry!" Alice.

"I'll be watching your thoughts. With Alice and I, you should be perfectly fine." Edward.

"Hell, yeah! I'm not letting my little sister down!" Emmett.

"Do you have any faith in us at all?" Rosalie.

"I'm here for you, Courtney, if you need support. Going though it myself was hard, but I might be able to help." Jasper.

Esme looked at me evenly. "You've got all of us behind you."

_**And so it begins…**_

**Okay, wow. I did a huge time-skip in this chapter. I figured that another six chapters of the Cullens doing nothing but sitting around would get boring, both to those reading and to me as the writer. Next chapter: Courtney gets her first control test.**

**I don't have a plot written out for this at all, so it's kind of go-as-it-will. The only thing is that I was planning on having this stretch from Courtney's changing in chapter one to gosh-knows-where in an undetermined amount of chapters later. I have a feeling this'll be a long story, just because I want to get into an actual plot without it seeming too sudden (i.e. having ten or twelve years go by in between chapters), but I also don't want it to drag on forever.**

**That being said, I got several reviews saying, more or less, "Will Courtney ever wind up with someone romantically?" The answer to that is I don't know. Probably sooner or later, yeah. But within the next five, six chapters? No. **

**Also, before I wrap up the ridiculously long Author's Note: if someone would do a beta-read for me and would like to volunteer, feel free to drop me a line. I think I do fairly well with just Spell Check and I, but a second opinion is always a bonus.**


	8. Restraint

**The Beginning of the End**

**Chapter Eight**

**Let's use a basic skill called logic here. If I were Stephenie Meyer, would I be on Fanfiction writing stories? No. The proper conclusion to draw here is that I'm not Stephenie, right?**

Pulling the soft blue T-shirt over my head, I took another look in the mirror. It had been two weeks since our last "family meeting," because I was being paranoid about my eyes.

I had gone hunting yesterday, and they were a soft and golden ochre.

Avoiding the mirrors in the house had become habit over the last year. I couldn't stand seeing my red eyes, which looked like something out of a nightmare.

The face staring back at mine was so much different from my human one, I still had a hard time believing it was me. My eyes had become larger, and they were ringed with heavy black lashes.

_If they were grey,_ I thought, _I should look like Colin Creevey's long-lost sister!_

My nose wasn't as short as it had been, but was still small enough to be described as little. The lips placed delicately under my nose seemed fuller.

Of course, next to Rosalie, who is gorgeous, or Esme, who looks like a nineteen-twenties movie star, or even Bella, with her fine-boned features apparently exaggerated slightly by the change, I was as normal as any vampire can be, other than the fact that I looked a heck of a lot more scared than they did. Then again, I had a pretty decent excuse.

Emmett, Edward, Alice, and Carlisle were all coming with me. I didn't make any Secret Service cracks – I was far too jittery to even think about joking. Emmett was also uncharacteristically silent.

I slid into the backseat of Carlisle's Mercedes, Alice next to me in the center seat, her hair in more disarray than normal. Emmett sat on her other side. Carlisle smiled at me. "Ready?"

I gulped. "I… I think so."

On the hour-long drive down to the little town on the pretext of going to a little-used bookstore, Alice talked at me constantly; she was trying to keep my mind off blood, guts, and gore and I appreciated that but sometimes I just needed quiet!

I fiddled with my ponytail, taking my shoulder-length brown hair down and putting it up again until Emmett reached over Alice's head and held my hands still. "Chill."

Carlisle pulled smoothly into the bookshop's parking lot. As I opened the door, the first thing I noticed was the scent of human blood.

_I'm not going to ruin it, I'm not going to ruin it, I'm not going to ruin it_, I told myself. Inhaling again, I was hit with a much worse smell, darker and almost burnt. "Ugh, what _is_ that?" The acrid stench flooded my nose briefly. "It's horrid."

"Gasoline," Alice said from her place next to me. "Want to go in?" I turned to look at the SUV that had just gone by. _How did I not smell this kind of thing when I was human? _I followed Alice dutifully into the store.

Carlisle came in too, on the pretext of picking up an ordered medical text. He, Edward, and Emmett slipped discreetly into the stacks, ready to run to aid if need be.

I walked off with Alice.

"That went really, really well!" Alice enthused as we all climbed into the car. "Nice job."

"I had to stop breathing twice," I admitted. "Once with the mom and her baby and once with the store clerk, when she moved just as the door opened."

"But it's twice that you didn't massacre someone! That's great."

"What an outlook, Alice," murmured Edward from the front seat.

I grinned. "Hey, I have new books and my control's getting better. As far as I'm concerned, it's a good day."

Emmett reached over and mussed my hair.

"How did it go?" Esme asked me when I walked through the door.

I gave Esme a hug. I think she likes having me around, because in some ways I'm a lot more childish than the others. "It went great." I fished out the book I'd bought her. "Here, Esme."

She gave me a smile. "Thank you, Courtney."

Carlisle came in next and kissed Esme's cheek. "Do you know where Rosalie is?"

Said vampire sauntered in. "Right here. What do you need, Carlisle?" He turned to her. "How much do you need something to do? The Mercedes needs an oil change, and I have to make a few phone calls."

"Oh, it does? I'll go change it then. Emmett!" she opened the front door, her golden hair lifting in the breeze. _Must have been bored_, I thought idly. I saw Emmett grab her hand in his huge one before the door closed behind Edward.

"Edward!" Bella loped down the stair quietly. "Hey, Courtney. Did you get some of the books you were looking for?"

I nodded. "Everything went well. I think next I could even try a mall and be fine."

"I was under the impression you were going to a fairly large store, though. Wouldn't a mall be about the same, really?"

Edward shook his head, copper strands of hair flopping into his eyes. "No. We were in some little backwater place – the kind of bookstore you'd expect to find in a town that small."

She rolled her eyes. "At least it had a bookstore! Forks didn't even have a decent library!"

I grinned. _It's been a year of ups and downs, but I've done it_, I reflected.

_**Six months later**_

Alice and I walked in to the house. "I think Courtney's doing fine now," she announced to the empty room.

"Wonderful," said Esme, who had come down carrying a needlepoint design she was working on. Somehow, the discovery three months ago that Esme is a wonderful needlepointer didn't surprise me.

Rosalie and Emmett came down next, Emmett looming tall and dark in the late-night dusk. "Does this mean we'll have to go move again?"

Carlisle came in from the sliding-glass door. I wasn't sure what he'd been doing. "Do you all_ want_ to move again?"

Shrugs. Bella stuck her head out of the "library."

"What's this about us moving?" Her hair slid from its position to fall perpendicular to the floor in a long, straight bunch.

"Do you feel up to it, Courtney?" Carlisle asked me then.

"Can I have Alice, or someone else, in my classes so that I… you know?"

"That could be arranged. Next we would have to give special consideration to where we would go. Any suggestions?"

"London!"

"Ohio!" _Ohio_? What on earth would we do in _Ohio_, for Pete's sake?

"Sydney. Or Melbourne."

"Alaska." Heads turned to look at Emmett. "What?"

"You were just in Alaska, Emmett, before Forks," explained Bella patiently.

"Oh, I know. But that was Denali! You guys ever heard of Ketchikan? It's this little place that gets something like three hundred days of rain a year. It's really far south for them, almost to Victoria BC. On an island."

I raised an eyebrow. "Emmett, where _do_ you come up with these bouts of intelligence?" He glared at me mockingly and smacked the back of my head.

The result sounded vaguely like ice splitting.

"Will Ketchikan be safe, Emmett? After all, we were just in the same state."

"Why not?" He grinned. "Come on. It's another little town with lots of rain."

Carlisle sighed. "I guess we should all start packing then? I've never been to Ketchikan myself; when I was in Alaska the first time, before Edward was with me, there was really no one there."

Esme rushed out of the room. I followed her. "What's wrong?" She turned to give me a surprised look. "Nothing. I'm going to see if I can find a place to get a house built…" she trailed off.

Moving preparations began.

A/N

**So… many… emails! –twitch- And over one night, too! … Was it because of the twice-in-a-row updates?**

**Thank you all very much for your kind reviews!**

**Demolitionlover: I personally think Rosalie does not get enough credit- my opinion is that she doesn't like Bella merely because she thinks she's made the wrong choice to join the family, and because she's jealous of Bella's ability to have a life – children, a husband who would kiss her cheek, et cetera. She's had over a decade to get used to the idea in this story though, so I'm going with the "Rosalie finally just got over it" scenario.**

**Patronus Charm: Sounds good. I may have to look into that. I got the feeling, when I re-read this, that I was switching tenses, so a beta would be great. Thank you for your suggestion. (By the way, I love your pen name!)**

**oXXb00kw0rmXXo: Thank you! It's nice to know that I'm not writing a shallow character. I do try! As for Bella's power, I got to thinking… What is Bella good at besides tripping over everything in sight? … Finding mythical creatures, of course (-points to New Moon- She runs after the first non-humans she can find, and it evolved from there, I guess.)**


	9. Vehicles

**The Beginning of the End**

**Chapter Nine **

**Review Responses/ Author's Note at the end of the chapter. It's a fairly short one, I'm afraid.**

"Edward? Rosalie? Alice? Emmett?"

Carlisle's voice sounded hesitant for the first time since I'd met him a year and a half ago.

"What is it, Carlisle?"

"Yes?"

"Huh?"

"What?"

He took a deep breath. "Ketchikan… is on an island."

"Yes," said Alice again. "What about it?"

"You four will have to decide what to do about cars."

"I'm taking my car." Four voices, so different… I couldn't help but laugh and point out, "Alice, you and Edward are supposed to be fifteen. With me."

"So is Bella," Edward said.

"Bella doesn't have a car, Edward."

We all laughed. He slumped. "I tried to buy her one when her truck gave out two years later, but my Bella is stubborn."

Bella rolled her eyes. "I think that we should get a different car. The Volvo is in need of an update, anyway – it's five years old!" She pretended to faint from horror.

Something I'd been mulling over for the last week or so while we sorted out our roles popped into my head again. "Hey, Carlisle? I know I look fifteen. But Edward and Bella… don't. Why do people believe us?"

He shrugged. "Birth certificates." _But… The birth certificates would show some of us to be centuries old! That certainly doesn't…_ Forgery.

The answer arrived in my brain like it had been sent. "Of course."

Edward nodded. "Alice is also due to die in about eight years; otherwise the IRS would be after us demanding to know why no one dies in this family."

Someone coughed – Rosalie. "Our problem, I think, is that we'll need two cars just because either myself, Jasper, or Emmett will have to drive you all-" she pointed to us – "Until next year when at least one of you gets your license. For the fortieth time," she added.

I gulped. "Do I have to get a license?" Everyone turned to look at me.

"Why wouldn't you?" Emmett asked me warily.

I shrugged. "I'm not so keen on running around in a two-ton vehicle that could kill me, thanks. I'll stick to the passenger seat and just bum rides from all of you." Bella laughed suddenly.

"Courtney, if _I _could drive perfectly well when I was human, you should be fine. You can't be hurt or anything."

"What about car fires?" I muttered under my breath.

Alice, from her place perched on Jasper's lap, said, "I want to go car shopping. If we'll need two, we'll need two we can all agree on."

"Nothing too extravagant," warned Carlisle. "Remember Forks and the day Rosalie brought the M3 we had then? If you choose a car, make sure it won't look too terribly out of place in a little town."

"Okay," Alice piped. "Any takers? Jazz and I will drive."

"I'll come," I volunteered. "Car shopping with you will be an experience." Alice gave me the thumbs-up.

Rosalie tossed her hair. "Why doesn't Jasper stay home, and the girls can go? The boys can go look for cars somewhere else, I suppose."

All of us agreed that this sounded like a pretty good plan. I went upstairs to get my shoes, and when I came down I could see the six of them parceled off into their couples. Edward had his arms around Bella, his nose buried in her hair. On her face was an absolutely blissful expression. I still hadn't gotten the whole story of how they'd become a pair, but however it had happened I was glad of it. They both seemed so happy together.

Alice and Jasper still sat where I had left them, Alice saying something quietly and Jasper looking serious. Suddenly, he chuckled and Alice's grin lit up the room.

Rosalie and Emmett were kissing. I looked away to give them some privacy.

Suddenly, the one thing that I had never noticed sprang up in my mind. I was permanently fourteen. Would I ever fall in love?

I put the thought out of my mind, dismissing it as a silly, sappy teenager's idea. It could be worse, I told myself unconvincingly. I could be dead.

"Or you could be Jane," Edward murmured loud enough that I could hear him through Bella's hair. "She is part of the Volturi, in Italy. She must only be about twelve; possibly younger."

Rosalie broke out of Emmett's death grip. "I call driving."

I smirked. "Shotgun! Alice, Bella, it's probably convenient that you two ride in the back if we're taking Rosalie's car. You guys won't get squished."

Alice glared at me. "Why don't you just go around with a big sign that says 'I'm a foot taller than Alice Cullen'? You certainly rub it in enough." She winked at me. "Joking. You'd look ridiculous. I'll put it on a T-Shirt for you, if you want, though."

I shook my head and the seven of us tumbled out. All of the boys got into Edward's Volvo, with poor Jasper squished into the backseat. His long legs would be cramping by the time they got to whatever dealership they chose.

Alice and Bella squeezed into the backseat of the car, and we flew off down the road. I got my answer about fast driving, because Rosalie's speedometer didn't touch anything below eighty miles per hour once we got onto the highway, and she only slowed down to that if she saw a car coming.

I suppose it's no surprise that we arrived at the Canadian border in just a few hours. Even so, I'd been bored out of my skull, since no one told me we were going _out of the country to buy a car!_

Bella handed me a copy of _Romeo and Juliet_. "Here. Bored?"

I snatched it. "Bella, if you weren't in the backseat I would hug you. Thank you!" The line through border security inched forward. Rosalie rolled her eyes. "Does anyone mind if I pull an Alice?"

I glanced from her perfect features to Alice's tiny ones. "Am I missing something here?"

Bella looked at me. "We're really going to have to tell you the full story at some point. Alice and I went to Italy chasing Edward fifteen years ago or so. The line to get into Volterra – where we were – was insanely long and we were pressed for time."

"So I cut," Alice murmured, smiling. "I loved that car."

"Grand theft auto," muttered Bella.

"Shush," retorted Alice. "It was fast, and it got us there in time. If I'd taken some little poky Honda, would we have gotten there in time?"

Bella looked at her lap. "No. And for that, I suppose I should thank you." She smiled at Alice. "And yes, Rosalie, I mind."

"Oh,never mind. We're _finally _here!" said Rosalie. We pulled up next to the border security booth. The woman inside had her hair pulled back into a mud-colored ponytail, and looked exhausted.

"How many adults?" Rosalie glanced back at Bella and Alice. "None. We have a seventeen year old and three fifteen year olds."

The woman sighed heavily. "I'm afraid you need a legal guardian, or a waiver signifying that your guardian says it's okay."

Rosalie shrugged. "Here." She handed out three pieces of very official-looking typed paper. The woman looked blearily at them. "I'll need to get my supervisor's signature on these."

She paged someone, and within two minutes a thirty-something man with thick blonde hair was jogging toward us, barking into a walkie-talkie.

She passed him the papers. "May I see your passports?" he asked us, without looking into the car.

"Rosalie!" I hissed. "I don't have a passport!"

"Yes, you do." She handed it to me. It looked genuine. _Where on earth...?_

I pretended to fish it out of my pocket and handed it to Rosalie; Alice and Bella did the same. The man leaned down to take them, and was hit with the full force of Rosalie. He barely glanced at the papers and signed them without a thought. "Are you Miss Hale?"

"I am," she said, obviously bored.

He nodded. "Take good care of your… friends, now."

"They're my sisters, actually. But thank you." She took the papers he handed her before running off and answered the rest of the questions the woman was firing off – "What is the purpose of your visit to the United States?"

"Car shopping."

"How long are you going to be here?"

"Overnight, probably."

"Do you have any firearms, explosives, or other weapons in your vehicle?"

"No."

"Have fun."

We drove away, into… "North Dakota?" I asked, puzzled. The sign had clearly displayed the legend "Welcome to North Dakota. Part of the Union since 1889."

"Hmm?" Rosalie said, clearly distracted. "Oh. Yes. We'll drive down to California tonight and find a hotel."

"Guys!" I whined. "You didn't tell me we'd be going overnight. I don't have any clothes-" Alice cut me off. "Did you just voluntarily think of clothes?" Without waiting for my answer, she threw herself forward and attempted to hug me through the leather seat. "I'm so proud!"

"Alice, watch my car," warned Rosalie, making a sharp right-hand turn.

In all honesty, I have no clue if this is how they handle a carful of "minors" at the border. I haven't been to Canada in a while, and I've always been with my parents – so I'm just kind of improvising here.

**Review Responses**

**Sunshineanddiamonds: That's one of the things that bugs me about Twilight fanfiction. So many portray Emmett as a bumbling, loud idiot and Alice as some airheaded hyper girl, not to mention everyone else… I try very hard to keep them in character. (Reading the books sixteen times a month doesn't hurt either, ha.)**

**Demolitionlover: Oh? I haven't yet been to Melbourne, although I went to Sydney and Brisbane on a trip with my parents. Is it really all that unpredictable? I know we've been having crazy weather around my area, with hail and 80****o****F in the same week! **

**SignedSealedWritten: Thank you very much! I suppose I could, if someone asked. Why?**

**oXXb00kw0rmXXo: I laughed, and laughed hard, at that little parody script. Thank you for brightening up my day! … wow, that sounded cheesy. As for the rest… I truly don't know. I'm writing this without a plot, without an outline, without anything. So I don't know. The only thing that I'm struggling with is that if she falls in love with a human kid, it's TWILIGHT reversed. And I don't want that if I can avoid it, since I'm already using the characters. I don't want to fall into the trap of using the same plot, too!**

**Next chapter: Car shopping with the Cullens and Esme finds a house.**


	10. Shopping

**Demolitionlover: Thanks for the compliment about Alice. Melbourne sounds nice, really – I loved Australia when I was there, although I'm still set on moving to Alaska when I'm older. We've usually got rain, rain, and more rain, but it's been really odd this year. No, I haven't read Interview With A Vampire yet (blush) but I keep getting told I need to.**

**oXXb00kw0rmXXo: A Harry Potter – Twilight crossover? Sounds intriguing. I may have to read that one.**

**-Hands out "I'm Taller Than Alice Cullen" T-shirts- Reward for reviews! Also, I have a little announcement: if anyone would like a character named after him or her in Ketchikan, please let me know in a review. I'll do my best, though you may not come in for a few chapters.**

**Two words: Not mine.**

**In California**

Rosalie pulled into the parking lot of a hotel around ten PM. My legs cramped with sitting for so long, I crawled out and stood.

Alice jumped out next to me. "We are going to get you some better clothes after we check in," she informed me. I sighed. "Alice, it's after ten! Nowhere will be open."

Bella gave me an evaluating glance. "Don't bet on it. If there's a store within fifty miles of here that's still open, Alice will find it."

Rosalie strutted into the hotel, breezing past the young doorman (who was looking after her in disbelief) without a thought. Once inside, she noticed we weren't with her and turned, giving an imperious snap of her fingers. I hurried after her, catching up, and we walked to the marble desk.

Bella ran after us, at a human pace so she wouldn't arouse suspicion. "I'll park the car, Rosalie, while you and Alice and Courtney get a room."

The twenty-something woman at the front desk surveyed us appraisingly. "May I help you?"

"We have a reservation," Rosalie told her. "Under Cullen." She shook her hair back slightly.

"Cullen… Cullen… Yes, miss. Room 304. Do you have any baggage that you would like help with?" Rosalie shook her head.

We all went up to the lavish room, decked out with plenty of glass and marble, along with a Jacuzzi in the bathroom and three bedrooms. I leveled a glare at Alice and Rosalie. "We don't sleep. Why do we need three bedrooms?"

Alice shrugged. "Show?"

I rolled my eyes as I was shoved out of the dark wooden door, into the mirrored elevator. Hopping into the backseat with Bella to allow the two shopping fiends easier speech, I settled in to wait for Alice to decide we could go back.

Little did I know it would be one-thirty AM before we go back, loaded down with clothes. Alice had forced me into five different stores before she was satisfied.

I collapsed on the couch and, with nothing better to do, flicked through the late-night TV shows.

"Oh!" Bella cried. "Go back a channel." Rolling my eyes, I clicked back to the movie; I sat up straighter when I saw what it was: the first few scenes of the nineteen-sixties version of Romeo and Juliet, with Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting.

We spent the next two hours watching the movie. When it was over, Alice got up and stretched. "I swear, I will never know what you see in that play."

Bella smiled. "The first time I saw this version of it, Edward recited Romeo's lines while I was cuddled against him…" she sighed. "That was right before my birthday, remember, Alice?"

Alice nodded and took control of the remote control.

**With the Cullen Boys **

Edward groaned. "What on earth is wrong with silver?"

Emmett glared at him. "I refuse to have a silver car. Don't even think of a Volvo, either."

"And a red Jeep is so much better? Emmett, it was good for getting to the baseball field, but it's really quite conspicuous! No."

Jasper, seeing no point in letting the fight over car color escalate, stepped in. "How about blue?"

"Fine," Emmett grumbled. "But I want something that I can drive, not some tiny little car that I have to do my anchovy imitation to get into the seat."

"But Emmett," said Edward innocently, "You did your anchovy imitation very well. I seem to remember you fitting into the backseat of the Volvo in Forks."

"And how many times did Alice complain about having my knees in her back?"

"Come on, you two," Jasper called. "You're making a scene."

Of course, Emmett had no objections to raising a ruckus. He and Edward continued to argue.

Jasper rolled his eyes. He began to scroll through his ideas for cars as Emmett and Edward debated the pros and cons of specific makes and models.

"Edward, I just know Carlisle will veto your Jaguar idea."

"Well, Emmett, what would you suggest?" Edward didn't look irritated; to the contrary, he was almost enjoying arguing with Emmett.

The three of them didn't decide on a car until almost eight hours after they'd reached the dealership, finally settling on a sleek, dark blue Lexus. Edward volunteered to drive it home while Jasper and Emmett drove home in the car they'd taken.

**With Carlisle And Esme**

Esme heaved a rather heavy sigh. She'd been searching for nearly three weeks now for a house that just didn't want to be found.

"Esme?" Carlisle's voice echoed slightly, and she noticed.

"In here. It seems so empty without the other seven." He came in and put his arms around her shoulders, kissing her cheek lightly as he gazed at the computer screen.

"No luck, love?" She sighed. "Not a thing." Carlisle nodded slightly.

"You'll find something. You always do."

Two hours later, Esme let out a little gasp. "Carlisle, will this work?"

"Perfect."

The house was set with sweeping views of the water, and far off in the distance one could see the mainland. It was painted a dark, steely grey and had birch floors, according to the realtor's website.

"Carlisle, I'm going to go and look at the house. I think I can get there and back by the time the girls will be back from California."

Carlisle nodded. "Take the Mercedes, will you? I think it's the only car still here with a full tank of gasoline."

Esme drove off to find the perfect house on a little island in Alaska.

**Back With The Girls**

In true Rosalie fashion, she was holding out for something that she called a "BMW 3 Series Convertible 328i." Bella and I exchanged glances and she shrugged.

The one that Rosalie was ogling was a deep, shiny black, with a black leather interior. "Rosalie?" I called. "It's a convertible." She tossed me a "so-what" look.

Alice smiled at me. "She's right, you know, Rosalie. Convertible… three hundred days of rain… it just doesn't add up… But it is a nice car!" she added positively.

"Do you have any objections to this one?" Rosalie asked me, eyes still on the car. "It's new, so it's not too messed up, but I can tweak it for Alice's speed requirements." I shook my head. "A car's a car, isn't it?"

Bella rolled her eyes and murmured something about flashy cars, and we all trooped inside to settle a payment schedule. I think we confused the poor salesman when we said we were currently living in Canada, but he managed to stay professional and got the sale finished, and we all headed out with Rosalie driving the new car and Alice driving the car we'd taken. I zoned out completely, and before I knew it we were back at the house.

There was a new car sitting in front of the house, a dark blue thing. Carlisle's Mercedes, though, was missing.

"What? Oh, yes. Esme is going to look at a house she found on the internet," Carlisle told me when I asked. "She should be back soon."

Our car-shopping adventure had ended, miraculously, with no violence whatsoever... now we got to deal with actually moving.

I just _can't _wait.


	11. Travels

**The Beginning of the End**

**Chapter Eleven**

**Disclaimer: Do we really need to go through with this? Sheesh, people! I hereby state that none of this except the plot and Courtney belong to me.**

I riffled through my clothes. No matter what Alice said – or saw- I was getting rid of any heels and miniskirts.

Bella was my partner-in-crime – we were going through her closet later. A steadily growing pile of designer shoes and expensive-looking flippy skirts lay on the floor, which Alice plowed straight through when she came running in.

"Courtney! Bella! Do you two want me to _die_?" She gasped. "Courtney, are those the Manolo Blahnik stilettos I bought you last month? What are you _doing_?" She ran over to the pile and snatched up the far-too-spiky shoes, clutching them to her chest protectively.

She looked like a mother lioness protecting her cubs.

"Alice," I said patiently, "Did I not explain that I don't do stilettos and miniskirts? I thought I had, funny. See, it goes against my principles; aren't we supposed to be inconspicuous?" I gestured to the five-foot pile. "This isn't exactly stuff one wears to blend in, dearest pixie sister of mine."

Alice pouted. She has this look down to a T, believe me. Her lips trembled. "Courtney, do you love me?"

"What? Of course I do, Alice. You and Bella are my best friends!" Bella's eyes got very wide, and she leaned over.

"Be aware that this is the same technique she used on me to let her do the wedding planning for Edward and myself. You may find yourself keeping those deathtraps she calls shoes soon enough."

"If you really, really… Bella! You liked that wedding and you know it! Besides, what were you going to do? Go to _Vegas_?"

Bella nodded.

"And they aren't deathtraps!" Alice told me fiercely. "Don't let her influence you." I rolled my eyes.

"Alice, I will compromise. I will go shopping with you. For one whole day. And let you spend money on me. Okay?"

Alice looked at me warily. "What's the catch?"

"I get to have supreme veto power on anything that goes into the dressing room." Alice's face drooped.

"Fine. We'll go tomorrow."

"Okay, Alice. Out. Out, out, out." She went, if only because Bella was none-too-gently shoving her towards the door.

I think it made Alice a little bit mad when the zebra-print Spandex top hit her in the back of the head when I tossed it over my shoulder towards the pile, judging by the glare Bella said she'd leveled at me while I dug through the back of the closet.

"Aha!" I cried, emerging with my favorite old sweatshirt. It had "HARVARD" printed on it in giant red letters and was at least four sizes too big. "I thought Alice had trashed this!"

I hauled all of the clothes downstairs and began piling them into boxes, but Alice ambushed me and dragged them off to put them on eBay.

"If you don't want them," she'd announced loftily, "Someone else will."

I had no problem with this and began piling the clothes I would wear into boxes.

I stood in front of sixteen boxes labeled "Jeans," "Shoes," "T-Shirts," "Knit Tops," "Pants," "Skirts," "Undergarments," et cetera (courtesy of Alice, who had taken over the labeling).

"I'll deal with those later, after I've got all my books boxed up," I murmured. "Bella, let's go tackle your room."

"Edward is boxing CDs in there," Alice called.

"I wonder how he'll arrange them in this house," Bella said. I gave her a questioning look and she laughed. "He delights in finding new ways to organize those CDs. He doesn't do them by personal preference, or alphabetically, or by genre… those are far too mundane for my Edward. No, when I first met him he had them organized by date, and then personal preference within that timeframe. In here, it's by the fourth letter in the artist's name." She sighed.

"Maybe he should put them into order of acquisition," I suggested.

"That's actually not a bad idea," Bella and Edward said together as we entered their room.

"Hey, Edward. Bella and I are purging her closet from Alice."

"Good luck," he said, eyes sparkling. "Love, if you don't come out every two hours I'll come in and risk my immortal life to save you from the clothes."

She laughed and waved him off as we walked into the closet (which was roughly the size of my old bedroom at my human house).

An hour later, I stood up, groaning. "Bella? You have a pile of mismatched socks over here, a blue prom dress with French tags, and a sweater that I'm not sure what to do with."

She stood, too, stretching. "At least I don't have to reach down as far as you to reach the floor. I think I'll keep the sweater and the prom dress. I've got memories of that dress, since I attended that prom in a cast… The socks can be gotten rid of."

We tossed everything into their respective boxes. I stretched leisurely and walked out of the bedroom in just enough time to see Carlisle's black Mercedes pull into the paved driveway. "Esme's home."

She walked in the front door, face aglow. "I think it'll work. We'll have to re-paint it, though, since the walls are a most _appalling_ shade of green, but it's a nice house." I stole one of the pictures in her arm bag and looked at it. "It's a really nice view!"

Alice bounded down, Jasper on her heels. "Let me see."

"It's a wonderful house, Esme," Jasper told her. "I think all of us are fairly close to being finished packing. Are we taking the furniture?"

She shook her head. "No, I don't think so. I rather like this house the way it is."

"Are we leaving tonight, then, Esme?" inquired Bella from the top of the stairs.

"Again, no. Sometime next week, I think would be best."

Bella and I went "walking" that night, because we'd already packed up most of our things. I hadn't accumulated nearly the amount of _stuff_ some of the others had, like Jasper's copy of The_ Origin of Species_ and Alice's collection of mismatched earrings. She swears she's going to make something out of them at some point… I really don't believe her. I think she just likes having them around, all neatly organized on a metal earring holder.

**Next Week Sometime**

Emmett hauled the last duffel bag into his Jeep, which we were going to drive over merely for the cargo space. Everyone who could drive was taking a separate car (at which I rolled my eyes) because of all the luggage that needed to be hauled to the new house.

I elected to ride with Bella in the new Lexus that the boys had bought, since she didn't have as many boxes shoved in her car as the other very overloaded cars.

Carlisle, looking at the mountain of cardboard crates and suitcases, had put his head in his hand gently. "Where do we get all of our stuff?"

"Alice attracts it," Edward murmured. "She can't resist new things, so they just gravitate toward her."

Poor Alice.

We drove for several hours, Bella and I, changing CDs every hour or so and talking about books (a subject we hadn't yet exhausted, even though I'd been discussing them with her for going on two years now).

When we finally had to stop for gasoline, I took the opportunity to get out and stretch, wrinkling my nose against the overpowering stench of the fuel.

Bella filled up, checked with Rosalie in the new convertible (who had pulled in directly behind us and was getting some very odd stares from the teenaged boy working the counter) and hopped back into the car.

Car trips are a lot simpler when you're a vampire, I reflected. My little brother had delighted in waiting until we were just past a rest area to say, "Mommy? I have to pee." And she would sigh and say to my dad, "Richard, do you mind stopping?"

I gasped as we topped a hill and saw the ocean. "It's gorgeous!" Having lived near the Great Lakes all my life, I wasn't afraid of water at all, but this was different: wild and free, powerful and unpredictable.

"Yeah," Bella agreed. "Let's go wait for the others, huh?"

Emmett pulled in twenty minutes after Edward, leaping out and crying, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I got lost… oh, wait, even Alice isn't here yet. I'm good."

"Speak of the devil," I murmured. "Alice just pulled in. And here's Rosalie."

Soon enough, we were all there and on the ferry that would take us to our new home. We gathered many odd looks, with eight cars being driven on to the tiny little boat.

I spent the ride with my face glued eagerly to the window. Emmett laughed at me, but I retorted that I'd only been to the ocean once, and that had been the Atlantic, so he could shut up, thank you very much.

We drove off the ferry and got more odd looks from the good citizens. All too soon, we'd parked in front of our new home.

**Demolitionlover: I actually live about two and a half, three hours from Forks, accounting for bad traffic. So it explains our funky weather, especially since I live in the convergent zone and it'll be raining at my house and two or three miles away it's sunny as all get out. The only problem I have with getting to see Melbourne is the plane flight – it took us SEVENTEEN HOURS to get to Sydney when I went. Any guesses to how zombie-like I was? But it's a beautiful country- best trip I've ever had. I'd love to get back someday.  
**

**Patronus: Thank you very much. I'm glad you like it.**


	12. Papers

**Grroovyhevens: Eeep, that's awful. Plane flights stink, especially long ones, but they're necessary.**

**Patronus: Thank you very much. Yes, we have really crazy weather here sometimes, but I kind of like it.**

**Sunshineanddiamonds: Yep, that would be why! It's a nice state, really. I like the Northwest I couldn't survive in Arizona. Thank you for your compliment!**

**Also: I should say that I've borrowed the idea of a new vampire having an older one with them in classes due to a "medical condition" from Sera Phyn's wonderful BLOOD MOON (which has, very sadly, been taken down). The Latin is from an online translator, so it may not be completely accurate, but I used 'cruor': blood, gore; murder, slaughter."**

* * *

We'd spent three days getting the house ready, and now we faced the next step: High school.

I followed Carlisle and Esme into the Lexus and plopped in the back; Alice and Jasper followed me. Edward, Bella, Rosalie, and Emmett were taking Carlisle's car. I didn't bother to ask why Carlisle wasn't driving his own conveyance. In this family, sometimes it was better to just not ask.

We had an extremely short drive, but the cars drew looks. I sighed. "Alice, why didn't we just buy a normal car? You know, a little Honda or something?"

Esme laughed from the front seat. "Do you believe that they would drive it?"

Carlisle pulled smoothly into the parking lot of the high school we'd be going to; as it was just after school let out, it was emptying rapidly. A small knot of girls who looked to be in the ninth grade or so stared after us as we slipped out of the cars, murmuring rapidly. Edward chuckled beside me.

"They think that Hollywood is filming a movie here. See that red-haired one? She wants to know if she could be an extra."

I laughed. "Yes, we're filming a movie. Sounds like a wonderful idea. Alice can be the shopaholic sister, you can be the moody, brooding teenage son, and Emmett can be the dense football player…" Alice stuck her tongue out at me.

We all followed Esme and Carlisle into the little building labeled "Front Office." The skinny, middle-aged woman sitting at the front of the desk gave a little gasp as we all walked in. "May… May I help you?" she asked, quite obviously flustered.

"Yes," Carlisle said. "I am Carlisle Cullen and this is my wife, Esme. We moved to the area a few days ago, and are here to enroll our children." He gestured to us.

"Oh," she whispered, wide-eyed. "Are you the ones that bought the big old house up on the hill?"

Carlisle nodded. "I'll be working in the hospital."

She smiled. "Well, I'm April Pearson. It's lovely to meet you, Mr. Cullen, Mrs. Cullen." Her eyes switched to us. "Are they all yours?" Her eyes had widened even further. _They look like they're about to fall out of her head._ Edward snorted softly from beside me.

Carlisle shook his head quickly. "No. They're all adopted."

"My niece and nephew, Jasper and Rosalie Hale, are living with us under legal guardianship while their mother is… incapable of caring for them," explained Esme. "The rest have just come to us."

The woman, Mrs. Pearson, nodded. "How wonderful for you to be caring for so many teenagers. Can I have your names?"

Jasper and Rosalie introduced themselves, and she smiled at them. "What grade will you be in?"

"Tenth," they answered simultaneously.

"Twins, then." And she scribbled down something onto a pad. "Who else?"

Alice danced forward. "I'm Alice Cullen, and this is my older brother Emmett and my sister Courtney."

"And what grades will all of you be in?" Her eyes got a bit frantic, I noticed. I wondered how much paperwork poor Carlisle and Esme would have to do, getting seven children in at once. "I'll be in ninth, with Courtney. Emmett will be in tenth." Alice gave her a dazzling Alice smile. She should get that look patented.

Mrs. Pearson gave me an appraising look. "You two are also twins?"

I shook my head quickly. "Alice is older than I am by ten months." She raised an eyebrow and scribbled something down onto the big yellow legal pad. "I skipped a grade," I said, our cover story for how Alice and I were in the same grade.

"And Emmett? How old are you?"

"I'm sixteen," he said. "A year older than Alice almost to the day." He slung an arm around Rosalie's waist. Mrs. Pearson's eyes were drawn to it, but she didn't say a word.

Next, Bella stepped forward and offered a hesitant smile, obviously trying to get her thoughts off of Emmett and Rosalie's relationship. "My name is Isabella Cullen, but I'd really prefer to be called Bella. I'll be in the ninth grade with Alice and Courtney."

Mrs. Pearson smiled at her. "It's nice to meet you, Bella. And you are?" she asked Edward.

"I am Edward Cullen," he said smoothly. "I will also be in the ninth grade."

"Okay. Mr. and Mrs. Cullen, you'll need to fill out medical files for each child. All of you," she directed the next statement at the seven of us, "will need to choose classes. I have a syllabus here for each grade, if you're not sure what the curriculum covers."

"Oh, Mrs. Pearson," Carlisle said. "I don't know if this will present a problem, but one of the children needs to be in each of Courtney's classes with her. She has a medical problem that they know how to deal with if it flares up. It could have dire consequences if not dealt with immediately after an attack."

She appraised me with newly empathetic eyes. Edward relayed her thoughts to me in a whisper: "_Poor girl. She's too young to deal with things like this. I wonder why they're here, instead of in a big city where she could get better medical treatment?_"

We filled out our papers and handed them to Mrs. Pearson, who took them. "If you'll wait, I can get your schedules made and the medical forms entered into our system." She bustled through a door and we heard a scanner, then computer keys clicking rapidly.

"Helen, here. We've got seven new children that need schedules." Her voice was soft enough that human ears wouldn't have heard it, but with our exaggerated senses we could catch every word.

"_Seven_?" This woman seemed a bit older; perhaps sixty to Mrs. Pearson's forty.

"Yes, they've all been adopted. And Helen? They're _beautiful_. They've just moved into that big house on the hill."

"What is 'cruoritis', April?" She'd found my medical record.

I laughed quietly. Latin for "blood' and '-itis' for "inflammation." I blamed Edward and Jasper for this one. One of them had found an old Latin book when we'd been packing and come up with this.

"I don't know. I don't think it'd be wise to ask, since it seems pretty insensitive to do. It's obviously a touchy subject. He didn't mention it until he had to. But look at the symptoms: lightheadedness, dizziness, violent behavior… Yes, I think it's best we do as Mr. Cullen suggested and keep one of her siblings in a class with her."

"Okay…" More tapping. "Here are the ninth-grade schedules. Will you make up the others while I go give these to them?" The woman, "Helen," bustled out without waiting for Mrs. Pearson's reply.

She gave a gasp as she saw us. Edward leaned down into my ear again, translating her thoughts into words. "_My God, they're gorgeous. Too bad he's married… and far too young for me."_ My assessment of "Helen's" age had been correct: she had graying brown hair held cut in a bob around her chin, with little wrinkles showing at the edges of her eyes.

She smiled broadly nonetheless. "My name is Helen Watkins. I'm the secretary here. Which one of these schedules belongs to who?" She fanned them out. "Alice?" Esme told her quietly, "Alice is the black-haired one over there."

"Courtney?" Esme pointed her in the right direction again.

"And you must be Isabella… and Edward. Here you are." She gave them their little scraps of paper and disappeared back into the copy room to make the 'tenth-grade schedules.'

She gave Jasper, Rosalie, and Emmett their schedules and we compared them, figuring out which classes we could potentially have together. Luckily, lunch wasn't at different periods for different grades.

We walked out of the office after saying goodbye to the two secretaries, talking quietly. A few people coming out of a building I assumed was the library stopped in their tracks, mouths agape.

"Who are _they_?" whispered one boy.

"I don't know, but look at the girls!" said another under his breath. "Damn, they're hot."

That single comment drew growls from every male in my family.

"Chivalry is dead," muttered Edward. "Really, you women aren't just things to ogle. Human males are pathetic."

"Boys!" cried a female voice. "Be quiet! They're probably new. You know, getting schedules and stuff."

"Be quiet, Rachel. Do you honestly believe that?" The first boy that had drawn their attention to us spoke. By this point, Esme and Carlisle had gotten into the car.

"See, those were the parents, I'll bet!" insisted the girl, Rachel.

"They don't look like they're in high school. Look at the tall blonde guy. He could be twenty! So could the blonde girl."

"I think I'll keep an eye out tomorrow to see if any of them are in my classes," decided Rachel.

We slipped into our respective cars and went home to get ready for 'school.' I forgot about the curious girl. _It's best to keep contact to a minimum_.

**Next Chapter: First day of school! Last chance: Anyone want a duplicate in the school? If you want a character named after you, go ahead and leave me a review, so I can get you in.**


	13. Jealousy

**I'm taking some liberties with Ketchikan High School, which is a real school. According to the Wikipedia article, it has around 600 students. I'm cutting that number down to 450 – enough to make sure that the entire school can eat lunch at the same time, a la Forks.**

**There will be basic algebra in this chapter, so consider it your math lesson for today. doesn't support the SuperScript feature like MS Word does, so... just imagine it's there, okay?  
**

**Also, I'm posting this up now since I wrote quickly today. If you'd like a character, go ahead and let me know; I will fit you into a later chapter. Just don't be offended if I use your supplied name in a way you might not like. Give it to me at your own risk!**

I walked with Alice and Edward to our first class, algebra. Since we'd come in halfway through the year, we gathered even more stares.

We walked into the classroom and informed the teacher, a Mr. Henry, of the arrangements. He nodded pleasantly and directed us to three desks in the corner. The only other person in the classroom was a blonde girl with her nose in a thick book sitting across the classroom. She'd given us a timid smile upon our walking into the classroom.

Soon enough, the class started, the humans taking only minimal notice of us until the teacher announced, "Class, we have three new students today, Edward, Alice, and Courtney Cullen. They're over there in the back and just moved here from Canada." And that was that.

I'd never been good at math, but I'd spent the past two years going over it with people who'd been through Calculus several times. I was as quick as any of them now.

The teacher droned on, illustrating how to find the difference of two perfect squares on the overhead. Eighty percent of the class looked extremely confused, I noted: only the blonde girl who'd been here early, my siblings, and I weren't completely stupefied.

"So, let's try a few problems!" How could anyone be _so_ enthusiastic about math? "If we have… Here's a good one," he said, finding a problem in the book. "If we have X to the fourteenth minus a hundred forty-four-" he scribbled down _x__14__-144_ on the overhead in blue marker – "Who can tell me how to factor this?"

A few of the students bent their heads over their papers, erasing and scribbling by turns. I'd finished the problem already, as had Alice and Edward. I gazed around the room, seeing that the blonde girl had apparently either finished or not done the problem at all. She had her nose in the book again, but when the power of my gaze drew her eyes she offered me a smile.

I smiled back quickly and spun my head to see Mr. Henry turn on the overhead, ready to have some poor soul come up and do the problem. "Ah, Ella. You're rarely at a loss. Can you tell us how to do this problem?"

The blonde girl, Ella, put down her book. "Start with writing the rule for the difference of two perfect squares, which is quantity a+b times quantity a-b."

The teacher scribbled down the problem so far.

_x__14__-144_

_(a+b)(a-b)_

"Then," continued Ella, "Write the problem as the difference of two squares: quantity x to the seventh squared minus twelve squared.

The overhead now read:

_x__14__-144_

_(a+b)(a-b)_

_(x__7__)__2__ – (12)__2_

"And," she finished, "by using the rule for the difference of two perfect squares, solve the problem by putting it in the formula. It leaves us with quantity x to the seventh plus twelve times quantity x to the seventh minus twelve."

_x__14__-144_

_(a+b)(a-b)_

_(x__7__)__2__ – (12)__2_

_(x__7__ + 12)( x__7__ – 12)_

"Very good, Ella," said Mr. Henry as he went on to start another problem. One of the girls, a passably pretty human, brunette with blonde highlights, murmured to one of her cronies: "I wonder if she hides all the answers in those precious books of hers."

The other girl, much shorter than the first, giggled maliciously. "It would explain a lot, wouldn't it, Erin?"

_So._ This girl, Ella, would probably be much like myself as a human: quiet, a bookworm, who often drew the ire of the more popular girls.

Alice was looking at them, too, and leaned over to me. "Don't they have anything better to do than to put others down?"

"Of course not," said Edward softly from his desk in front of mine, scratching down another answer in his flawless script. It must have been something that some of my family had acquired with time, as Bella's handwriting and mine were still messy.

Completely oblivious to the gossiping students, the teacher looked at the clock. "You may have the last twenty minutes of class for work time. Your homework assignment is on the board." He sat down with the strongest cup of coffee I'd ever smelled (I could get a clear whiff of it across the classroom) and that day's newspaper.

Instantly the classroom became a flurry of activity. The girls whom I had identified as "popular" scooted their desks together and began whispering. I caught snatches of their conversation:

"…_Absolutely gorgeous. I wonder if he's homesick. I think I'll offer to show him around."_

"_No, you don't! He's mine…"_

"_Have you two seen his _sisters_? They could be models, I swear!"_

"_Eh, it's probably just plastic surgery. No one can look that good without a decent nose job."_ I almost laughed at that one, and I could see that Alice held in a giggle. The girl speaking had a nose far too small for her heart-shaped face, one that anyone could see she hadn't been born with.

"…_Heard there was another girl in our grade, and three more of them in the tenth."_ Oh, poor Bella. Was she faring this poorly in her mandatory Alaska Studies class, all alone?

I leapt up as soon as the bell rang, going to find Bella for our second-period Spanish class. _Beginning Spanish. Joy._ I knew Bella was completely fluent, and I was getting there. Edward walked with me, since we had this class together, and Alice danced off to PE.

Spanish class was a breeze, as expected, and Alice and I met up to head to English while Edward went to the science labs downstairs and Bella went to PE, muttering about death, doom, and destruction. Edward caught up with her quickly and reminded her quietly that she hadn't tripped over anything in a long time and that she shouldn't jinx herself.

By lunch, I nearly fell onto the seat. My siblings and I had been getting extremely odd looks, ranging from the few mildly curious ones to the jade-green jealous ones of a few girls who apparently felt we were challenging their status just by being in the school.

Rosalie and Emmett joined us soon, with Rosalie complaining almost instantly to the more technically adept of us about the incompetence of her Small Engines course professor. Jasper showed up in the middle of her monologue with the report that "us in the ninth grade had a lot to look forward to" in the tenth grade, coupled with an eye roll.

When the bell rang, signifying that we had ten minutes to get to our fifth-period class, we all stood and tossed the food we'd bought away. Edward and I headed to PE (rather unwillingly on my part) as the rest of the family walked to their respective classes. I knew this was harder for everyone else besides Bella, as they'd been through this repeatedly, but it was nice for them to pretend. After all, I'd never finished high school.

The PE class went fairly well, and I thanked whoever had created vampires repeatedly for making us graceful. The PE teacher, a Mrs. Kern, was short, especially next to Edward and I.

A girl named Nikki had been kind enough to enquire after our names (I had to give her some credit for being able to keep her eyes on my face and not on Edward's. I remembered seeing everyone when I was first changed.) She had obviously not been all that comfortable, but had fought it down for the sake of making the two of us feel welcome.

Alaska studies and Photography with Alice, science with Bella, and blessed fresh air after being released out of the school all passed in a blur.

The most memorable part of the day would have to be, hands down, directly after school. A girl with brown hair obviously curled by a curling iron (as a naturally curly-haired girl, I knew they didn't often fall in those perfect loose spirals without help) had run out, stopping us. She looked to be about sixteen or seventeen and had put her hand on Emmett's shoulder.

"_Hey. What's your name?" She glanced back at a few other girls, who were eyeing the rest of us and gave them the thumbs-up._

"_I'm Emmett." _

"_That's a nice name. Would you maybe like to go to a movie or something with me later this week? I know you're new, and I can show you where all the… places are."_

_Rosalie had stepped in with a furious "Emmett! Don't you dare."_

_I'm amazed the girl stayed as long as she did under Rosalie's glare, a whole three seconds. She turned tail and fled._

I sat in the back of the black convertible with Edward (who was more than considerably irked about not being able to drive) as Rosalie drove, still fuming over the audacity of people. Bella rode shotgun.

I sighed as I stepped out of the car, which had – as expected- drawn some seriously envious looks. "Do I have to do this all over for the next four years?"

"Don't complain until you've been through it four or five times," Emmett said as he climbed out of the driver's side of the new Lexus.

We all walked in the house, to be greeted by Esme writing something. "Hello, everyone. How was the first day at school?"

"Same as always," Alice told her. "A few let-down girls, a couple jealous guys, some amazed teachers… We'll live. We've been through worse." She kissed Esme's cheek. "I'm going to finish up what homework we got."

The rest of us broke up to do the same. I had yet to get a good desk for my bedroom, so I sat at the table in the kitchen with Esme. She asked me if I'd felt okay in the school, and I replied that it was tough but I could do it.

It probably took me all of twenty or thirty minutes to finish my homework, so after I was finished I walked upstairs and fished out an old friend: _Pride and Prejudice_. I settled in for a long night of reading.


	14. Answers

**Kasey Elizabeth: Thank you. The lone obstacle I have in describing Courtney is that she's telling the story. I don't want her to be describing herself, as I don't feel it's very realistic. However, she will get a better description soon, don't worry. I've got it worked out. **

**Demolitionlover: I've… never been to Forks. –shame- Don't rip me up for it. One of my friends has, though. Yeah, plane flights are just … bad. But they're worth it, usually.**

**oXXb00kw0rmXXo: No, the logic I have for the arrangement I have is this: Edward was adopted (relatively) young, and took Carlisle and Esme's name. Alice, Emmett, and Courtney are siblings because of their dark hair. Bella was adopted separately, like Edward. Jasper and Rosalie are twins…. Or at least, that's their story So it works out!**

**-puts out a shameless review plug- Constructive criticism is very, very welcome, too.**

* * *

Two weeks of school, two weeks of rain, two weeks of complete monotony.

The human population of the school had finally gotten the idea that we wanted to be left alone, although it took us a few well-placed verbal barbs to get the point across.

Some of the human boys had been even worse. The most stares had been directed at Rosalie, of course, but Bella, Alice, and I had gotten a fair share of unwanted looks.

I didn't have anyone to protect me from the mortal boys like my sisters did. Had it only been yesterday that one of them had refused to let me go?

_"Hey. You're that new girl, Courtney Cullen, right?" The guy, shorter than I was by almost four inches, raised a brown eyebrow as he pushed himself off of the brick wall he'd been leaning against._

"_Yes. Who would like to know?" I said icily, trying to mimic my siblings' perfect enunciation. _

_He gave me that little upward nod that boys think is so cool. "I'm Tyler. Tyler Cox." His hair flopped into his eyes and he blew upward to brush it off._

"_A pleasure." My tone said it was anything but. He insisted on plowing ahead. _

"_Listen, I've lived here my whole life. I was thinking maybe I could show you around? The sun setting is really romantic… when we get sun."_

_"No, thank you." I'd witnessed my sparkling firsthand in the time we'd spent on our extended hunting trip with the Denali coven. Sun was not an option._

_"Oh, really? What do you want to do? There's a movie theater, too. Maybe we could go later this week? That new movie is opening on Saturday."_

_"No."_

_His face flickered. "Do you play an instrument?"_

_I was completely surprised by the turn the conversation had taken. "No. Edward plays the piano, though."_

_He grinned. "I'm a fair guitar player. What say you come over to my place and I can teach you the basics?"_

_"No." My tone had passed icy and had gone into venomous. "If I wanted to learn, I would ask one of my siblings to teach me."_

_"Then…" He groped for another line. "You want to go to the library with me later then?" It was so obviously a last-ditch effort – I couldn't see this one spending time in a library if someone paid him._

_"Listen, Cox." I gave his last name extra emphasis. "I'm not going out with you. I'm perfectly happy single, thank you."_

_"But Courtney! Listen, you have to be the most gorgeous girl I've ever-" he broke off. I'd forgotten myself and growled loudly._

_"The answer is no." I walked off to where Alice, Edward, and Bella waited for me so we could go to lunch._

_"Why are boys named Tyler always so pigheaded about 'no means no?'" Bella enquired, face neutral._

"…Yeah, see that one? She's new here. They all are. Man, you missed out on so much when you left for that two-week stint in California with your mom!" His voice was loud enough that I could hear him clearly over the babble of other voices in the room.

"Wow. Dang, they're…"

"Yeah. I already tried asking her out, but get this. She turned me down. And she snarled at me!"

"Well, Tyler, don't get pissed, but you get really annoying sometimes…" Good, they're brushing that slip-up off.

I turned my attention to the other side of the room. A girl argued across the laminate table. "Look, Stephanie. I don't care what you say. It's way too embarrassing to admit I'm flunking. I just don't… I don't know what to do. It just doesn't make any sense!" she wailed.

"Maybe Mr. Henry will give you a tutor. I heard the new kids, the Cullens, are all really smart. You could try asking one of them, Alana. It won't kill you to ask for help. I have been, and I still haven't been getting it."

"Are you kidding? They're gorgeous and all, but every single one of them scares me except that Courtney one. She seems more naïve, somehow..."

_Ha. And I'm the one who's most likely to lose control and massacre the classroom. You should be running away from me, too. Idiots!_

I trudged through the rest of the day, did my homework quickly, and watched The Phantom of the Opera. Alice had a copy of the book in the original French, I knew. I'd have to learn French at some point so I could read it.

I watched the moon rise through a break in the clouds, and suddenly got up, needing to be out in the crisp air. Alice joined me, quietly friendly.

"Do you want to go shopping with me sometime next week? I was thinking about catching the ferry and driving to Vancouver."

I shrugged. "Sure, Alice. If it'll make you happy."

She angled her head to glance at me from under her thick lashes. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know. I'm just… depressed."

"You've been spending too much time with Edward lately," she observed with a laugh.

"Isn't it incredible?" Edward's voice asked lazily from the shadowy trees above me. "That one little girl can be so supremely irritating?"

I looked up, shocked. Edward lay reclining on a thick branch, as at home as he would be on his black sofa. Bella perched just below him, swinging her legs slowly. She had a book with a plain white cover on it. I couldn't read the title; it was obscured by a convenient leaf.

I got up quietly and loped off, back to the house. I spent the rest of the night listening to the most calming music I had. Alice must have let Jasper know what I was feeling, since at about three-thirty in the morning I felt a gentle wave of contentment wash over me, bathing me in warmth.

I had to haul myself off the wide couch that served as my comfortable piece of furniture the next morning. I suppressed a loud groan; I didn't want to go to school.

"If it helps, I used to think of school as my form of sleep," Edward told me on our way into our math class. "Before I met Bella."

I nodded, and I slipped into the classroom ahead of him, dropping my backpack lightly on the seat. A girl I didn't immediately recognize sat precariously on the desk next to mine.

I didn't think about it, really, until she spoke.

"You're Courtney Cullen, right?"

"I am." I glanced up at her for the briefest moment. Her eyes were nervous, and her lips were white from being pressed together.

"Listen, I talked to Mr. Henry and he said that you were already way ahead of the class and the only reason that your siblings and you aren't in higher math is that they're all full…" she rambled. I let her rattle on for another moment before interrupting.

"Does this monologue have a point?"

"Oh! Yeah. Listen, I'm having major trouble with this chapter, and Mr. Henry said that a tutor might be a really good idea. He suggested that I ask you." She appeared to think of something quickly. "You probably don't even know who I am."

I shook my head. "I don't believe I've gotten a name, no."

I saw Alice slip into the classroom and stop short at the sight of me. I knew she would be asking Edward what was going on mentally.

When he answered in a low hiss, she gasped, so low that no human could have heard. "What is she doing? We can't afford to be forging relationships with the humans!"

"You sat next to Angela Weber every day for a period of time in Forks," he murmured. "She'll be fine. None of her thoughts indicate thirst at this point."

My attention was drawn back to the girl. "I'm Alana Benson. My older sister says she has US History with your brother Jasper."

I nodded. "I'll help you out. We'll set up a time sometime."

"Actually," she fidgeted, "The office said that you could afford to skip this class period when I went to them with the idea. We could go into room two-oh-six. That doesn't have a class in it this year."

I swallowed hard. I didn't think I should be alone with a human in an empty classroom yet. "Um, Alana is it? See, I can't be alone. Alice or Edward has to be with me. I've got a medical condition, and my family knows how to treat it, but it could be disastrous if I got an attack and was alone."

She nodded and went to go speak to Mr. Henry, hidden behind his newspaper. When she returned, she had a triumphant look on her face, although it was mixed heavily with nervousness. "Alice, would you mind coming with Courtney and I? She says that she needs one of you with her, and I need help."

Alice's eyes widened slightly. "Edward, are you okay with that?" He nodded, not taking his eyes from the book he was reading.

Alice and I stepped out after gathering our things. "I hope you don't mind," Alana said quietly as we walked. "But my friend Stephenie needs help too. We've both been excused so that you two can help us."

She pushed open a door. "Here, Stephenie. I managed to get her to agree. Alice is here too."

Here goes nothing, I thought. Alice squeezed my hand and said quietly, so that only I could hear, "I think we're fine. Stop breathing if you need to."

I walked into the classroom and put my books on the chair.


	15. Anguish

**Demolitionlover: Haha, I was actually thinking that Emmett would scare the hell out of me if I saw him in real life! I expected people to skim math, too – I just wanted to get the point across and this was the best way to do it, I thought. Esme is one of my favorite characters. After Jasper, Bella, and Edward, she's there. Right in front of Alice. I feel like she's the glue holding that family together – like an art project. You don't see it much, but you know it's necessary.**

**Faxnessfan101: Sure, that'd be great. Send me a PM or something and we'll work something out.**

**Two chapters in one day!! Wow. I've had three-quarters of this chapter written since about Chapter Ten, but actually getting here...**

* * *

I stood up, stretching gently. Alice had sat a few feet away from the two girls and myself, reading but still offering help if she felt I could explain things more clearly.

It had gone well.

I left school that day feeling that I'd accomplished something, and for the next three months felt the same.

The nine of us went to Russia on Emmett's request during the summer for hunting purposes, and when we came back in the summer, Edward said he was bombarded with the thoughts of the new freshmen.

"Same as always," he'd told us. "Shallow and uncaring."

I supposed for the most part that was true. A few of the freshmen were nice enough, in that generically "I'll-be-nice-to-everyone" way that's drilled into children with too-moral parents. The others were... let's just say that I was glad Edward read minds and not me.

I couldn't really bring myself to care about them, not thinking past getting through the days, weeks, and months. Occasionally something happened to break the tedium, like the seven or eight teenagers that had utilized the classic Diet Coke and Mentos trick in the lunchroom, or the mice being used for an experiment in animal behavior getting loose...

The boredom stayed, though. My family were just existing. I felt just the tiniest bit jealous of them, having someone to talk to when things were at their worst, someone beyond a sibling or parent.

But for now, it was sunny behind the clouds, not rainy at all. The clouds diffused the sunlight, so my siblings and I were at school, but it was bright and almost cheerful. I got off my train of thought, leaving my depressing thoughts behind.

A few of the freshmen, gaining confidence now that they'd been with the older kids for almost a month, were showing off for the girls, doing skateboard tricks on the finally-dry concrete.

Some of them were obviously new at this, but some were quite good. _Had they been practicing?_ I wondered idly. _Surely the wet pavement makes this a hazardous hobby here._

"Oh, God," Alice whispered. her eyes were blank. Edward gasped, reading her vision as she did.

I spun. "What is it?" I got my answer, though, as a freshman named Ryan fell off his skateboard. He skidded along the concrete steps, and… bled.

The scent took less than a second to reach my nose. I knew I could handle being around humans now, but any open blood was bad, and the crimson liquid was leaking copiously over the hard surface, staining the ground…

_It would be so easy_, said that treacherous part of me I had first heard in Canada, so long ago with the lone hiker. _They are just humans, and weak. Edward knows how it feels, he told you about meeting Bella… It would be so easy to kill them now. Go._

_No._ I won't ruin what Carlisle has spent his life on, won't ruin the others. If Edward could defy _la tua catante_, I could defy the blood of an ordinary human. I resisted, but my thirst bore down on me, transforming me into a wild and unrestrainable monster. My thoughts of resisting vanished as the scent of blood spiked the air.

"Emmett!" cried Alice. "EMMETT!" He grabbed me roughly and pulled me away just before I lunged. I didn't want to know what I must look like, snapping my teeth and pulling at Emmett's arms and Jasper's calming hands. I noticed dimly that Jasper wasn't breathing. I, to the contrary, was gulping the air, the scent, trying to get as much as I was able to.

The students took no notice of me, still gathered around the sobbing Ryan, fretting, fussing, and calling an ambulance. Alice walked next to me, quickly as she could, while Emmett and Jasper dragged me into the woods next to the school, fanatically and unreachably empty, trying to break away, to bask in the blood trickling along the concrete...

I didn't see the wide brown eyes of one of the students watching my family as they pulled me away into the car. I was mindless, a killing machine with no thoughts. No conscience.

* * *

"Oh, God, Carlisle, I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Alice sat next to me as I sobbed, head in hands. For the first time, I missed tears as Alice's little hands smoothed over my back gently. "I'm so sorry…"

Emmett's face was stony, with no trace of laughter. "Jasper's been working, and he's getting better, but Courtney can't do any blood at all. And this kid is probably going to show up at the hospital soon for stitches and the whole shebang. He was sitting there bleeding and… Thank God you have today off, Carlisle."

"I would have killed him, wouldn't I?" I asked in a whisper.

"No, you wouldn't have," Alice said softly. "You would have been strong enough."

I whirled on her, angry now. "You're a liar, Alice Cullen! You saw it as clear as day. Didn't you say, 'Oh, God,' right before? You knew. You _knew_. How could you? And you, Edward! I'm sure _you_ could have seen my thoughts! I was a monster, wasn't I?"

No one answered.

"_Wasn't I?_" I screamed, and turned toward the door.

I dashed out of the house, running with all my might. I didn't care if a human saw me, but I reached the edge of the island before I knew it. Without stopping to think, I threw myself into the steely grey water.

I floated, head underwater, not breathing. A fish swam up to me, wondering who in their right mind would be swimming in Alaskan waters in their clothes. A tire shifted on the bottom as some sort of eel moved around it, searching for food. I don't know how long I watched the marine life going about their happy lives.

And then, there was someone swimming next to me, hair forming a halo around her skull. Bella.

She motioned toward me, gesturing toward the surface. I glared at her and kicked away, but she shot after me and caught my ankle, hauling me toward a rock.

We broke into the cold, clean air, hair dripping, clothes soaked. Any human would have been freezing, but I didn't register a change in the temperature.

She didn't look at me, but instead turned on our rock to look toward the mainland, looking east. I stared obstinately the other way.

We sat like this for several hours. My clothes were still wet.

"You really hurt Alice, you know," she said quietly as we watched the clouds darken – the only evidence we had that the sun had set here, with the sky constantly covered. "She truly does love you – so do all the rest of us – and she was watching your future like always. She couldn't have done anything about it, Courtney. It wasn't her fault, and you acted like a child back there, blaming it on her."

"I am a child," I hissed venomously. "In more ways than one."

"You are not," she disagreed quietly. "You have to understand, Courtney. Just because you've been frozen at fourteen for the past three years doesn't mean you have the mind of a fourteen-year-old forever. Your mind should be working as an older person's would; you _cannot_ risk exposing us because of your temper. Did you know that three humans witnessed your plunge in here? You stayed under for almost a half hour. They think you committed suicide, and almost called the police." She finally turned to look at me, golden eyes pensive and disappointed.

"I don't care," I said, not willing to listen to her soft, sad voice. "I really don't."

"Don't you? I think that you're just not willing to admit that you were wrong."

"Isabella. I don't need psychoanalysis from my foster sister. I'm perfectly fine with my denial. I embrace it. _Leave me alone_."

Her eyes widened, and I knew I'd hurt her more than any fires could with that careless sentence.

"Listen, Esme's here. I'm going to leave you to her." She hopped back into the now-black water and swam back to the island, pausing to talk to what looked like Esme's silhouette.

I turned my back and soon felt Esme's arms wrap around me. I pushed her off. "Can't you all leave me alone?"

"No," Esme's voice murmured. "Bella is right, you know. You need to stop acting like a spoiled little girl. Courtney, I don't know why you're feeling like you need to push us out. I've never taken a teenage psychology course, and I can't remember anything like this when I was human, but listen to me for ten minutes and then you can go dashing off again."

I plopped on the ground sulkily and Esme joined me. "I think that you and Edward think very similarly, if not to the same extent. He is convinced that being what we are has destroyed our souls, and that we're damned regardless of what we do."

"Esme, please don't drag religion into this." I didn't want a cheesy "God-loves-you" speech that would feel more at home in a Sunday School classroom of six-year-olds. I wasn't a religious person at all, something I realized was probably a product of the era I'd grown up in: a period of skepticism.

"I was not. If you would just listen to me, I'll explain." I kept my mouth clamped shut, willing it not to tremble like a crying baby's. "I just want my children to be happy. That means generally getting along, and not wallowing in self-pity. I want you to make a god decision regarding what you will do after this, but I want you to… what's wrong?"

"I'm a horrible person," I murmured, throat thick. "I yelled at Alice, who's only trying to help, and Bella – who's my best friend! Esme, I'm sorry."

"It's not Esme you should be apologizing to," Emmett said quietly. I hadn't realized he'd come out to our little rock. "It's Alice, and Bella – even Edward."

"Go apologize to Alice, Bella, and Edward. Then you can run for the hills if you want to," Esme told me.

I stood slowly. "I'm not sure if I should thank you two or not."

Esme just smiled at me. "Make your amends." I nodded and walked to the edge of the rock, stopped, turned, and flung myself at Esme. "I'm so sorry, Esme."

She gave me a gentle hug. "It's all right. Go on, now."

I stepped off the edge of the rock and into the water, swimming for shore. When I got out, dripping wet, Rosalie appeared out of nowhere, holding a thick white towel, a pair of brown sweatpants, and a clean T-Shirt. She said nothing, merely looked at me accusingly.

I averted my eyes, looking at the ground. I couldn't face her scorn.


	16. Forgiveness

**I will only be answering questions posed in reviews as I had so many complimentary reviews this chapter it was unreal! I didn't want to take up a whole page with an Author's Note. If you didn't get a review response, go ahead and assume that's the reason why and know that I'm supremely grateful! They made me feel all warm'n'fuzzy. **

**MOB: Yes, they can. I'm not sure if you've read through more chapters since you submitted that review, but in a review response in chapter 14. Don't worry; they've got it under control! From what I know (which is admittedly little, so if I'm wrong on this please correct me), when a kid is adopted they often, though not always, take on the last name of their adopted family. This is the explanation the Cullens are using right now.**

**Patronus: Possibly. I'm not sure. I just reached the climax of Part One of this story – it's not close to over yet. However, I can't tell you just yet! Also: No to your second question. Tyler is a filler character and he doesn't play a big role in the story. Think of him like you would Eric in TWILIGHT. There, but not a major character in any sense of the word.**

**Demolitionlover: Because it was there! In all honesty, I found the US Census report and used last names off of it. Haha.**

**Caww: Thanks for your compliments. No, not quite. The possessor of the brown eyes comes into play in this chapter, though. Let the actual plot begin!  
**

_**Disclaimer: Three words: I don't own. No lo poseo. (is that right?)**_

**One More Announcement: There are about seventy reviews on this story already. I feel loved! When that number hits one hundred, I will do… something… for the 100****th**** reviewer. Write you a one-shot or something, maybe.**

I stood in front of Alice, who was encircled safely in Jasper's scarred arms. He gave me a stony look, obviously not ready to forgive me for hurting his love, his life… his savior. Alice looked terrible, her face a mask of tragedy. She hadn't even noticed when I'd walked in.

"Alice, I'm sorry." She turned to look at me, eyes huge and dark against her pale skin.

"Are you really?" she whispered in a deadened voice. "Or are you just saying that because Esme told you to?"

"No!" I gasped loudly. "Alice, I… God, ask Edward if you need to. I understand if you hate me. I really do. I'd hate me too, if I were in your place. Just… know I apologize."

She straightened and her eyes became more alive, though they were still hard. "I accept your apology."

I gulped. Had I damaged things irreversibly between us? I gave her a pleading look. "There are no words, Alice, for how terrible I feel. Please believe that. I need to go find Bella and Edward." I left, walking slowly to gather my thoughts for round two.

Had my thoughtless words and resulting hurt damaged our family beyond repair? I thought back to what Esme had said, on the rocks. "… Then you can run for the hills, if you want."

Would it be better if I left? If I went to go live a life separate from these other eight people… my family? Would I then, if ever, be forgiven?

I didn't realize I'd been subconsciously following Bella and Edward's scent into the house, up to their room. Music was playing, only slightly muffled through the door. I knocked quietly, hesitantly. Edward's voice bid me enter in tones only just louder than the music.

"I don't suppose 'I'm sorry' will ever make up for what I've said to the both of you and Alice," I began. "But the sentiment is there, for you to pick up. I think I might leave, go find the Denali coven and live with them. I can't stand to see Alice this way, and Bella, knowing that I've hurt my best friend to this degree-" I gestured to the depressing melody drifting out of the speakers – "I can't do it. I apologize for the pain I've caused you both."

I turned to leave, mind made up, and ran smack-dab into Alice. She looked up at me, expression fierce. "You aren't leaving!"

"Alice, I-" She cut me off.

"No. You messed up. Fine, I get that. Did your words hurt? Yes, of course, especially since I did nothing wrong. But have you ever wondered why we call ourselves a family, instead of a 'coven?' We act as one. And that means…" She took a deep breath. "That means we learn to forgive each other. Rosalie and Edward get into fights all the time. We've had arguments that have gone on for months a few times. But we don't go tearing off into the woods!" She shouted the last part, glaring across the gap.

"I have half a mind to shake you," muttered Bella from the couch. "Typical teenager, eh? I guess that just because you're inhuman doesn't mean you don't have fits of temper. I've known Rosalie for almost two decades now. She's certainly proof."

Rosalie stalked through the door, as if she'd been called. "You screwed up," she informed me haughtily. "I forgive you." Her voice was as icy as our skin.

"She knows, Rosalie," Jasper told her softly. "She's got guilt radiating off her in waves. Don't make it worse."

Suddenly, a thought hit me with all the force of a car: I couldn't breathe once I'd deciphered my own jumbled words.

"Did anyone see?" I winced when no one spoke for a few seconds. Then, hesitantly, Bella reminded me.

"Three humans saw you plunge into the water." Edward shook his head.

"No. They each witnessed it separately, and they don't know each other. They were already starting to believe it was a hallucination when she stayed under for three minutes. I don't think we will run into trouble from them."

"What about at the school?" I squeaked out. "Did anyone see there?" Silence.

"I don't know," Edward answered. "I was a bit preoccupied."

"So was I," Jasper said. "But I didn't get overwhelmingly suspicious feelings from any of the student body." He stood aside when I rose to let me out of the room. "Don't do anything stupid," he warned me. "Alice will see."

My sister nodded. "I will. Courtney, I'm hurt. But I'll also heal. I've been through worse," she reminded me. "When I was first changed, I didn't know what was going on. Bella and Edward have also been through this kind of thing. We're here for you."

I would have cried, had I been able to. "We're here for you," she'd said. After all I'd accused her of, all I had put her through, Alice was still supportive. I flung myself at my sister, my friend, as hard as I could, enveloping her small body with my arms.

"Thank you so much, Alice." I truly didn't deserve the people I lived with.

I skipped the next four days of school, on the official excuse that my illness had flared up (I'd laughed humorlessly at this one) and I was incapacitated, barely conscious. My siblings told me every night of the questioning glances thrown their way, of the few brave humans who'd asked after me.

"One of them was that girl Ella," Alice told me one night. "You remember last year in the first math class we were in? She asked me today in the library during Mr. Hansen's lecture. I swear, I'm so glad Jasper didn't have the man as a US History teacher. Ranting on and on about how the Confederacy was wrong in the Civil War. I wouldn't be surprised if he's a descendant of some crazed Union soldier and was raised with his great-grandfather retelling _his _grandfather's stories."

Alice and I were close, again. She seemed to have forgiven me, and our existences went on as usual, but I watched my words, thinking about what I was going to say much harder now. Controlling my temper was an imperative now more than ever. I wasn't going to screw up again.

Rosalie had taken work. She still hasn't forgiven me completely, but after two days she would stay in a room with me. By the third day she was speaking in curt-but-civil sentences.

The rest of them had forgiven me, too. I shouldered my backpack, adjusting the straps. I'd be going back to school today. Mustn't be away too long.

I went through the motions, noticing that the eyes of the student body rested on me again. Of course, they thought of me as the invalid, but that didn't stop them from instinctively shying away. Rather, it gave them an excuse: they didn't know if what I had was contagious.

One or two fought their sensible side and came to tell me they were glad I was back. Some of the boys in my PE class fought over who should have me on their team. Thank goodness it was the last year I'd have to take the wretched class. I wasn't sure if the fighting was over the fact that I had recently been sick, or over the observation that one or two of them made: I was one of the fastest in the class, and that was a "big plus" for softball.

How little they know. I'd played baseball with my family. This was nothing more than a warm-up for those games, though many of the less-fit students were panting at the end of class. I told Bella said thoughts, and voiced my observation: five years ago I was one of the panting kids. She'd laughed, in that soft and lovely way she had, and informed me that she was the same way, unable to walk over anything without tripping.

As we walked back in to change into our everyday clothes, I felt a gaze boring into my back. When I whipped around to see who it was, only the eyes of Colin Adams rested on me. He was a rather fervent admirer of mine, so I'd learned to ignore him.

Bella and I met up with Edward to walk to our Integrated Science class. He greeted her with a light kiss to the temple and me with a soft, brotherly smile. Walking through hallways at schools never changes, I reflected. They're always too crowded. When someone jostled me, I nearly fell, vampire or not. It wasn't the push that made me lose my balance, though.

It was the rush of pure memory that fell over me in a dizzying wave. Scenes that made no sense whatsoever, some that I recognized. The one that stuck out was from only a few days ago, fuzzy and disjointed as though the person had not seen it firsthand, as if they'd only heard of my actions. I saw myself, eyes black with hunger and fury, and Emmett with his arms wrapped securely around me. _Good God, no. Someone saw._ I couldn't say how I knew.

Then, the person returned. The proximity made our bizarre connection stronger; I could see Colin Adams (for that was the boy) and another young human male talking. It was as though I was watching them on some sort of hidden camera. I could hear them suddenly, and caught my name._ Courtney Cullen. She's different, man._

That jerked me out, and I came to with a jerk. I was lying on my side in the main hallway of the high school, Bella's arms around me. Alice stood over me, with the rest of my siblings off to one side.

"Are you okay, Courtney?" Such a loaded question from dear Alice.

"No," I rasped. "I..." She shushed me and Bella released me. Emmett came over and swung me up, bridal-style, into his arms, carrying me as smoothly as he could toward the Nurse's Office. The buzz of excited and worried voices faded rapidly, and they cut off quickly when three doors and several hundred yards were between the cot I now lay on and them.

Six pairs of eyes stared at me, but before anyone could say anything the nurse, Mrs. Brendan, came running toward us.

"My goodness, what happened?" She tried to lean over, but Jasper stopped her with a gentle hand.

"My sister just needs to get home. Our father needs to know about this. If we could be excused from classes for the rest of the day, we will leave and let things return to normal here."

She readily agreed and I walked rather shakily to the car.

**Shameless review plug! Pretty, pretty please?**

* * *


	17. Past

**Chapter Seventeen**

**Don't look now, but Star is updating. This chapter gave me a bit of trouble, getting wording right, et cetera, but I think I got it pretty well. It's a shorter chapter though, so readers beware.**

**One of my reviewers suggested that I go into Bella and Edward's relationship a little more – have one of them tell Courtney the full story. I'm just curious: how many people wouldn't mind a chapter, basically, like that? A little bit of back-story? I really value everyone's input, and I don't want this to get repetitive. I've avoided that specific thing just because of that – I don't want this to be a retelling of Twilight/New Moon/Eclipse. Thoughts?**

**Also, I wanted to clarify something. With Aro's power, does he need to **_**maintain**_** contact to sift through, or does just a brush do the trick for a while? I haven't really been able to find a good answer to this one. Does anyone know?**

**Review responses are at the bottom of the chapter.**

**Imagine a disclaimer here.**

I climbed out of the front seat – I'd been shoved into said seat by Alice, who told me to recline it and close my eyes.

I don't argue with Alice, not when she uses that tone.

Emmett picked me up. Would it kill him to ask before ripping my legs out from underneath me? He carried me into the house and was met by a frantic Esme.

"We got a call from the school. Is everything okay? What on earth happened? Courtney-" she fluttered for a moment, and plucked me from Emmett's arms, setting me on the wide couch – "are you all right? The woman said you'd fainted, and I really don't see how you could have." I stopped her.

"Esme – Mom- I'm perfectly fine. I think."

"You _think_?" Her eyes were frenzied now. "Oh, dear, oh dear oh dear."

I was almost amused. Seeing loving, capable Esme reduced to this when faced with the possibility of one of her children being hurt could have been funny, had I not known what a motherly person she was. She tried to get me to explain, but Edward backed me up with my argument: I wanted Carlisle to hear this too.

I wasn't sure if Edward had been in my head while I was out or not, but I didn't think on it much. Carlisle threw open the door, catching it just before it hit the wall and cracked it. He was still in his lab jacket and stethoscope, having left as soon as he'd gotten the call.

Carlisle calmed down quickly. It was the first time I'd seen him really worried. "Are you all right, Courtney?" he asked me quickly.

"I'm fine, I think." I gave him the same response I'd given Esme. "Just a little woozy."

"Start at the beginning," he instructed.

"Well, it happened in the hallway, during passing period. You know how hallways are always crowded in passing period? I suppose you wouldn't, Carlisle, but the point is that someone bumped me."

He raised an eyebrow silently but allowed me to continue.

"And when that someone bumped me… I guess I passed out or something. I think it might have been like Alice's visions. But I saw memories, I think."

"Like Aro?" Carlisle inquired of Edward, who shook his head.

"I don't think so. I can normally read Courtney's mind, as I can everyone else – with one exception." He gave his breathtaking crooked smile to Bella. "I got fog, this time. From when she crumpled to the floor to when she awoke, I couldn't see anything going through her head."

I coughed. "I _am_ right here, you know, Edward." He nodded.

"Please, continue. I didn't intend to interrupt."

Taking the invitation, I continued on. "This kid named Colin Adams is always following me around. I think he might have been the one I touched. But the problem isn't my crazy mind right now, Carlisle."

"Isn't it?" teased Emmett. "You know, I always thought you were a little insane."

I glared at him. "Don't joke around, Emmett. This Colin…" I paused, choosing my words carefully. "He's suspicious of something. No, that's not right. Someone he knows is. I couldn't see a face. But this person told him something, a suspicion. He said I was… different. I could just be paranoid. But…"

"It's always a possibility," Rosalie murmured grimly.

To get my mind off of the possibilities and implications of this, I turned to Carlisle. "You mentioned an Aro. Who is Aro?"

Bella flinched a little. "Aro is part of the Volturi. Remember how I mentioned them to you at one point? Aro, Marcus, and Caius?"

I nodded. "Why are we bringing them up now?"

Edward answered me this time. "Aro has a power, somewhat like mine. He can see the thoughts that someone has had – all of them – from a touch."

I shifted. "But this wasn't thoughts."

"Wasn't it?" Carlisle's curiosity was piqued now. "Why do you say that?"

"Well," I hedged, "First, I think of thoughts as, you know, words. That's why we say reading minds, right, Edward?" I joked weakly. "But this was like stills, or like video. That's probably a good comparison. Like I was watching a tape from a hidden camera."

"Hmmm. And you couldn't see the other person's face at all?"

I shook my head. "Not a bit."

"Well, our lives certainly haven't been dull since we met you," he sighed, running slim white fingers through gold hair. "Edward, watch this Colin child, please."

"I planned to."

"Alice, what do you see coming?" Carlisle enquired next.

Alice shook her head, black hair flopping into golden eyes. "Nothing. I can see two possibilities. Someone hasn't made a major decision yet. It's not like I can't see anything, but nothing is definite."

I swallowed. "I have a question, and we might not be able to get a decent answer. But why is this happening?"

The rest of my family exchanged glances. It was Emmett, of all people, who asked for clarification.

"Well, Emmett, I want to know why this is only just now happening. Like, why is this only starting to happen now? I know I've touched people before, and I haven't been getting flashes of the past with them."

"Wait, Courtney," said Rosalie. "Maybe you have to be thinking of what you want to see, or about something in particular. You were worried about someone finding something out, so when you touched the kid, whatever this is sifted through his brain and found the suspicious period."

I nodded. "Let me try something. Bella, c'mere." She walked over and sat next to me on the couch. I extended a hand hesitantly, thinking hard of how Bella and Edward met. Their relationship was still much a mystery, long as I'd lived with them, and I didn't yet know how they had met.

When I touched Bella's arm gently, that same rush surged through me. I saw Edward, same as he was now, in a small science classroom. His eyes were black. I saw Bella walk in and meet his eyes – his hostile, furious eyes – and trip over someone's backpack. More flashes went through me: Bella almost getting killed by a car, a meadow in the sun. A ballet studio, the mirrors smashed, the floors crushed, a fire burning in one corner.

And I was back on the sofa in our living room. I exhaled heavily, knowing my eyes were glazed and unfocused. "Whoaaa…"

"What did you see?" Edward urged.

I shook my head. "Bella, you _were_ a danger magnet. And I thought you were kidding."

A laugh rippled around the room, but it was nervous, unsettled. Impatient.

As I explained what I'd seen, trying to make sense of the disjointed images all the while, Carlisle was nodding, Edward had his forehead in one hand, and Bella was biting her lip. Alice was still sifting through the future.

The rest of my family talked, but I focused on the pictures and sounds I'd heard and seen. I now, more than ever, wanted to have the full story of Bella and Edward's relationship, but right now wasn't the time.

"Carlisle, we're going to have to find out who that boy in the memory was," I said quietly. "If we can find him, we can deal with this whole mess."

"Yes," he agreed. "I'm also curious as to what trait might have brought this… ability into your life now. Can you think of any?"

I wracked my brain. "I read a lot of historical novels…" I trailed off. "I bet that's it. I used to visualize being in one, and things like that. I think that's probably it."

"Regardless," Jasper said quietly, "we need to decide what we'll do about this complication."

I shifted uneasily. "I think I need to talk to Colin."

**Staysa: Thank you very much. I love me some Jasper, in the words of Mrs. Meyer. I've never actually seen a fanfic with that mentioned, not just in passing like that. As for your question… Well, wait and see!**

**EnderACullen: Again, thank you. I'm certainly trying to achieve that! I actually started this story in present tense… then realized that I was switching tenses all the time.**

**Demolitionlover: Faithful as always! Thanks for telling me about feeling lost – could you clarify that a bit? If I know where you got lost I might be able to edit the wording – constructive criticism is great.**

**Caww: Thank you.**

**Princess-Meow: That's great! It's wonderful to know that people enjoy my writing.**

**Patronus: Nooo… keep guessing. –wink-**

**CSP – I'm abbreviating your name. Thanks for the reviews. I'll try to work you in somehow.**

**Sunshineanddiamonds: I'll try to hurry, but my muse is waning. I've been crazily busy this week, because our math unit is giving me trouble. I haven't had as much time as I would have liked to be writing.**


	18. Investigations

**Annie: Thank you. Sometimes I feel the same way, but then I find the decent fanfics and my faith is restored. I'm glad you like it, and hope you will continue to do so!**

**Grrovvyhevens: Can you clear that up for me a little? That was a little vague. Like, what are you not so sure about?**

**CSP: Thank you! As for Colin being Mr. Brown-eyes… You'll see. You know what they say about anticipation… it makes the world go 'round?**

**Patronus: You have good senses.**

**MOB: Wow. A sequel? That's high praise!!**

**Demolitionlover: Um… I don't know. Maybe you're just like me and love to check e-mail? Okay, seriously: Thank you SO much. I can always count on a review from you.**

**Announcement A: Bella and Edward's relationship WILL be explained. Patience is a virtue. We need to get to the part where they explain it first! XD**

**Warning: Short chapter ahead. Sorry. But let's get the disclaimer out of the way: Not mine, never was, never will be... And aren't you all just so surprised?**

I knew that a certain human teenager named Colin had a habit of arriving early to school and slipping into the student center to buy his three dollar's worth of bottled caffeine, in the form of a Starbucks Frappucino.

I didn't quite see the attraction myself, but I brushed it off. I'd gotten there early. Emmett was with me. He was the most intimidating, if push came to shove.

I sat, waiting for Colin to come in. Emmett tossed a tennis ball up and down gently. Since there was no one around just yet, he was soon throwing it halfway across the room and darting to catch it, playing catch with himself. He stopped as soon as we heard the sloshing of rain boots coming closer.

It wasn't Colin, though. Instead, two of the senior girls came in. I recognized them vaguely as Alyssa Morris and Maeve Overland, two of the soloists for the school choir. They seemed startled to see Emmett and me there, and walked out after buying a blueberry muffin and a cinnamon roll respectively.

Ten minutes later, Colin walked in. It was six-forty AM; school didn't start for another forty-five minutes. He didn't appear to notice my oversized, muscular teddy bear of a brother or myself. I stood and walked over to him, stopping him before he fed the two dollar bills and four quarters in his hand into the glass-fronted machine.

"Colin, may I speak with you?"

He was obviously completely staggered. "Um, sure, I guess so."

I led him quickly to the table where Emmett and I had left our things. He and I had driven in early today, with the rest of our family due to come in the Lexus a little later.

"Listen, Colin… do you think I'm different?" I unleashed what Bella called "the dazzling power of vampire eyes" on him, trying to get him to tell the truth. He shook his head a bit, looking muddled.

"Strange you should ask that," he muttered. "My cousin Aaron said something about that a few weeks ago." He tilted his head, putting a fist under his chin to steady it. "He thinks your family is… yeah, different was the word he used. He hasn't seen you all that much, since he moved to Seattle four months ago."

Four months. This 'Aaron' hadn't seen me lose control. I exhaled heavily, dizzy with relief. Could this entire thing be a false alarm?

"Well, that's… nice," I said lamely, cutting off the conversation. "Oh, dear, would you look at the time. I'll just be off to Spanish then."

I left him staring after me, dazed. Emmett got up and flashed him a Look, and caught up with me. He went to his first class, science, and I went to the parking lot. I got there just as Rosalie pulled in with the other four of them squished into the other seats. Alice looked especially crammed, in between Bella and the door.

The seat in the back of that car was only built for two, and trying to get someone, even a someone as small as Alice, in was a cause for disaster. She nearly fell onto the pavement.

"Ouch, Bella. You know, I love you, but I really do dislike having your elbow in my kidneys."

"Oh, shush, Alice. You don't need them anymore." Alice laughed, brightening the mood immediately. She waltzed over to me. "How'd it go, Courtney?"

"I think we're fine. He said that a cousin of his made that comment, but said cousin apparently moved down to Seattle about four months ago."

"Oh, really? In a school this small, someone moving is big news. I hadn't heard anything about it," commented Rosalie distractedly.

"Perhaps the family just didn't want to make a big deal out of it," suggested Edward.

My family and I watched Colin carefully, but he didn't do anything really suspicious. He continued to moon over me, which was both a blessing and a curse.

Over our spring break, all of us went hunting. We drove up to Denali and spent the week with everyone there. Katrina told ancient Slavic legends, ones that had been lost to the ages. We sang, laughed, hunted, and talked. The few of us who had been around for a while told stories, everything from old German folk tales to the Biblical stories that Carlisle had grown up with. The rest of us related experiences we'd found funny, recited poetry, or even performed the snatches of plays we'd memorized.

The only snag in the blissful week was small: when Bella and I were out hunting, almost one hundred and fifty miles from the others (I was searching for black bear, Bella caribou), she had looked up, startled. Her eyes were wide and her nostrils had flared, but she'd settled almost immediately.

"What's wrong, Bella?"

She shook her head gently, sending her long brown ponytail whipping against her cheeks. "Nothing. I just thought… for a moment I thought I sensed another vampire. It must have been one of the others, ranging a little bit closer than we thought."

I nodded. We went home two days after that.

The three humans who'd seen me plunge into the ocean that awful day had never said anything. We had hunted them down, and Edward said that nothing suspicious was going through their minds.

I supposed what he said was true: humans lost focus easily. They couldn't remember things much longer than they were required.

The end of the second year in Ketchikan passed uneventfully. Our family went to Africa for the summer, and I developed a taste for giraffe blood, to the surprise and dismay of Emmett. Apparently he and Jasper had a bet on my 'hunting preferences' and Jasper's money had been on giraffe. Emmett's had, he told me later, been on hippo.

I don't think I'll ever understand Emmett's mind.

Now, as I clambered out of the car that was taking us to a little hotel in the snow, I reflected back on our trip. We were going to run the rest of the way to Everest, carrying our things. The rest of them had their gear, and I'd gone with Edward and Emmett to buy snowboarding stuff. Emmett said he was going to teach me.

We figured Everest would be as good a place as any. Apparently, vampires don't get altitude sickness, so we could just go on up and find places to go back down; I was still wary of the idea of snowboarding. My best friend had liked it, back in my human life, but I'd sworn to myself that I'd never try.

I got that promise revoked the first time Emmett pushed me down the mountain. It was phenomenal! Almost better than running, even… the speed rush was incredible.

I was a convert.

The snowboarding, exhilarating as it was, came to an end and we came back to school for the start of the semester. Jasper, Emmett, and Rosalie were 'seniors' this year, and the other four of us were juniors. Bella's eyes had strayed to Edward's. I knew they'd met her junior year of high school.

I still had one of my siblings in every class, just for safety, but it wasn't really necessary, I thought. My control was getting better every day. I still wasn't safe around open blood, but then neither was Bella.

Classes were easy as they had been the two previous years, for all of us; Carlisle continued to work at the hospital. Esme began painting some of the landscapes she could see from our kitchen's huge bay windows. We hung the pictures around the house.

All in all, a very uneventful lifestyle.


	19. Puzzles

**Yes, m'dear Demolitionlover, you are number one hundred. I'll write you something… Or something along those lines.**

**Patronus: In order: Thank you. Thank you. Possibly. Guess. Yes.**

**CSP: Colin isn't precisely a creep. He's just… misunderstood. He'll get his due soon and you guys will understand. –wink-**

**In the meantime, new chapter… The story is winding down. After it's finished, I'll be going back over it with a fine-toothed comb, re-writing.**

**Also: for us die-hard Twilighters, the movie trailer is out. The Lexicon has the link. Um, wow… It's not bad. Although the end scene isn't so wondrous, it still looks like the movie will be okay. Perhaps not great, but okay.**

The weeks progressed, with little to break the monotony. I took to bugging Edward for piano lessons to ease the boredom. I would never be as good as he was, but I turned out to be an okay player. I wouldn't take Edward's music from him (Heaven forbid) but I enjoyed learning.

The first twinge of something being wrong showed up about a month into the new school year. Bella noticed a vampire a few miles away as we all relaxed in the living room, but the other presence left about an hour later.

We relaxed again, after that. Two weeks passed. Emmett beat me soundly in his new video game, despite mangling one controller when he'd pushed at it too hard. Really, those flimsy plastic things are built for human strength. Emmett's pushing it to even handle one, sometimes.

Alice took Bella and me shopping, to our protests. I got my hands on a new novel about Lady Jane Grey, which I proceeded to read as Alice babbled about proper colors and styles. To her, the gift she possesses isn't just a stock-market tool, gambling help, or a way to sense danger: she sees the trends and, therefore, sets them.

The next twinge was the news that another new student would be transferring into our school. Edward managed to manipulate the school staff into believing that one of the humans would be better suited to the babysitting detail, knowing that humans clung to what was familiar – better not to be the first people they met.

Bella, though, was agitated all through the day the new human was to arrive. She told us that she kept sensing another vampire, but when we looked at all the humans we couldn't find another unearthly-pale person, nor could we find one with strangely colored eyes.

The hint of something _more_ came at lunch. I overheard one of the girls, Brianna, talking to another friend.

"He's so gorgeous, this new kid Jason," she said. "I swear he could even rival Jasper Hale and the two Cullen boys."

"Really?" enthused her friend. "That's pretty hard, you know. But I haven't seen him yet. How many classes have you had with him?"

"Just the one," Brianna informed her.

I motioned to Edward wildly and summarized the conversation under my breath. He poked around in the first girl's mind, and shook his head. "He's got brown eyes; they're definitely not black or red. And his skin is much less pale than ours."

I nodded. Lunch ended, and Bella and I walked to our fifth period: English. When I walked in the door, I stopped short. I recognized the distinctly icy scent of another vampire, although this particular fragrance was unfamiliar. Bella, too, stiffened next to me.

A boy that I knew to be a good student, or as good as one could be by human standards, sat next to a brown-haired, brown-eyed teenager, who looked about nineteen. He might have been passing for a seventeen-year-old junior, but it didn't fool my sister or me.

"Him," she hissed, pulling me back out. "Why does he have brown eyes?"

"I don't know," I whispered back frantically. "Let's go find Edward!" We hastened as quickly as we could without attracting attention to the soundproofed music room, where Edward played the piano for the school choir.

"Mr. Blake, Mr. Blake!" I cried, running in. "We need Edward right away!" Without even waiting for the teacher to allow it, Edward was beside me, walking out the door. We heard the befuddled music teacher mutter "Kids have no patience" as we dashed away.

He peeked into our classroom, taking a look and sniff inside. "Yes," he murmured. "That's very odd. Perhaps you two should go inside and act as though you don't realize he's one of us. He might approach us later if he recognizes us for what we are." He paused. "No, it's better to know straight off. We'll all go speak with him after school."

The strange new vampire ignored us. After class, Bella and I both walked over to him. She stopped him, saying softly so that the humans couldn't hear, "We need to talk. Meet us outside the gym after school ends, please."

He'd nodded swiftly, ignoring the stares he received from the incredulous children (most of the males were muttering about how the _new_ boy got all of the attention from the Cullen girls, of course, and they just knew how superficial we were since he was obviously quite good-looking – of course they weren't looking or anything…).

He met the seven of us outside the disconnected gymnasium twenty minutes after the school day ended, surveying Emmett's muscles and Jasper's scars – visible only to us in the dim, murky light- with respect and a bit of fear.

"What's this all about, then?" he asked, with just a hint of an accent I recognized immediately: Southern, perhaps Texas or Louisiana. "I'm just passing through. Didn't realize I was encroaching on some sacred land," he joked.

His eyes flickered, though.

"Would you mind explaining why your eyes are brown?" Rosalie challenged, getting straight to the point. Good old tenacious Rosalie. Alice nodded, one arm around Jasper's waist.

He shrugged. "Simple. I was an actor in my human life, so I was practiced at assuming other roles. That seems to carry over, so I can make my skin just a bit less pale." He paused, evaluating our response. When he got none, he shifted uneasily. "My eyes, too… See, brown?" He chuckled. "Merely an illusion, of course."

All of the rest of the family's eyes turned to Bella. She shifted uncomfortably, under scrutiny. "What is it?"

"You aren't affected by Jane. Aro and Edward can't see your mind, and what's-his-name can't find you," Alice mused. She didn't seem to care that she couldn't remember a name. "Those are all mind things. Why can he-" she pointed to the male, now standing a bit more comfortably – "affect you the way Jasper and I can?"

"I don't know," murmured Bella. "No theories here."

Jasper shrugged too. "It's odd," he said softly. I jumped a bit – he'd let the Southern accent he told me once he repressed so he didn't attract attention (how strange it would be to have one twin with a Southern accent and one without one at all…) infuse his voice. "I really don't know why this one's power affects us all, especially with our prior experiments." He glanced toward Bella, too.

The newcomer, now newly examining Jasper's scars, suddenly placed something. "You… you look familiar." he murmured. He examined Jasper. "Your accent, when you let it show… Texan. The name, Jasper… Civil War era, maybe. Were you part of all the fuss down there around that time? Why can I not remember where I've seen you?"

A snarl erupted from both Jasper and Emmett. "Whoah, there, calm down," he soothed, placating both. "I'm not here to tear you up for your sins, as they were." He stuck out an oddly tan hand. "I'm George Davis," he added. "How long have you been in the area?"

"Why don't you come home with us," suggested Edward warily. "We can talk in private there."

The man, George, nodded. "I'd like that. Let me get my car, and I'll follow you, if that's acceptable?"

Edward, apparently acting as our spokesperson, nodded. "That seems acceptable. Let's go," he said.

Our family piled into the two cars, and we left. Edward drove quickly, racing. "Thank God Carlisle decided to take today off," he muttered under his breath.

"What was he thinking?" asked Bella. He shrugged.

"It's very disjointed. I can't tell if he's deliberately doing this, like what the rest of you do to keep me out, or if his thoughts are normally this fragmented."

The other two cars pulled up, both Rosalie's black convertible and George's sleek BMW.

"Your car needs work," Rosalie informed him as he got out.

"What?" he murmured distractedly.

"It's a nice car. I don't think I'm all too happy with the way it's running. When was the last time you even changed the oil in this thing?" Rosalie sounded irate. In her book, mistreating a car is a capital crime.

"Oh, I don't really remember. A few years ago, maybe?" Rosalie's face melted into a mask of shock.

"Shall we go inside?" invited Edward. Before anyone could respond, Carlisle and Esme were in the door.

"Who is this?" enquired Esme.

"Mother – Esme – this is George Davis. He showed up at school unexpectedly, so we invited him home, as we felt it would be… nice," said Edward, grasping for an adjective clearly not coming easily to him.

Esme nodded. She and Carlisle motioned for George to enter the house.


	20. Twists

**Demolitionlover: Name your one-shot criteria and I'll get right on writing it. **

**Many thanks to all the reviews. I just wanted to clear something up: Last chapter, Alice was referring to the fact that Bella has "a private mind," according to Stephenie Meyer – ergo, Aro and Edward cannot read her mind, and Jane can't cause her pain, whereas Jasper and Alice **_**do **_**affect her due to the nature of their "powers."**

**I'm really not sure how to explain it past that.**

**So sorry this hasn't been up earlier. Stupid writer's block! My school gets out in less than two weeks, though, so I'll have time over the summer to write.**

**Disclaimer: The only things I own are my computer and clothing, books, and stereo, along with some junk that I could really care less about. The ability to say I wrote TWILIGHT, NEW MOON, and ECLIPSE is not on that list; it's solely on Ms. Meyer's.**

George entered the room and gazed around, sharp eyes taking in Esme's paintings, the TV, the few family photos that we'd gathered over the years.

His eyes hardened when he saw a picture, one that had been put up by Bella. In it, she's still human, with Edward standing next to her. I didn't see why she said she wasn't very pretty as a mortal: she's got gorgeous full lips in the picture, and her eyes are bright with intelligence. She's stayed that way, still in her late teens in appearance.

Edward faced him, posture alert, but not offensive. "Might I enquire as to why the school administrators seem to know you as Jason O'Loughrin, since the name you gave us was George Davis?"

The man's eyes shifted quickly from the picture to Edward's curious face. "A pseudonym, that's all. Another remnant of my actor self," he chuckled. "I enjoy using false names."

I saw Rosalie raise an eyebrow and Jasper furrow his eyebrows. Carlisle, too, looked slightly puzzled.

"George, is it?" he enquired mildly. "I realize my children have probably already asked you this, but why are your eyes not the colors we usually see in our kind?"

The color suddenly seemed to wash off of George, as though he'd been dunked under water and he had been covered in not-quite-dry paint. "I have a power, much like some of you, I assume. As I told the younger ones I met earlier, I was an actor. The illusion was intensified."

By the time he'd finished speaking, his face was the moon-pale shade I'd become accustomed to, and his eyes stared out, the color of onyx.

"You look thirsty," Carlisle said. "May I ask after your hunting habits?"

George's eyes flickered slightly. "To be honest, I'm not quite sure what they are any more. I was informed by an acquaintance that you subsist on animal blood here. Is this true?"

"Yes," said Carlisle. He didn't elaborate.

"Would it be acceptable for me to accompany you?"

"Oh. Yes, I suppose so," Carlisle told him. I relaxed for the first time since Bella and I had seen George in the science classroom, and knew Jasper was tweaking the emotional atmosphere. "We had planned on going sometime this weekend, but we can make a trip now if you like," he continued.

"I would," admitted George. "I have not had the chance to hunt for a few weeks."

Alice suddenly perked up, eyes going wide. "Everyone, we'll have sun breaks for the next few days. How convenient," she laughed. "We _could _go for the weekend."

George nodded. "That sounds wonderful. I'll go get a few things from my house and meet you somewhere later this weekend then." He looked at the rest of us. "Since you all seem to know about me, do I get to ask about you as well?"

Alice frowned a bit, looking into the future. Edward's head turned toward her, and she shrugged. George did not miss the exchange between my siblings.

"You see? So much I don't know." He turned toward the seven of us "kids" with an expectant expression.

Alice stepped forward first. "I think you already know our names… or do you?"

"We were never introduced, no."

Alice quirked her mouth up into a smile. "I guess I get to do the honors. I'm Alice. This is my husband, Jasper."

George nodded. "I remember you, Jasper. I can't say as I know where it's from, though. This is very irritating," he laughed. Jasper looked at him, scrutinizing.

"I can't say that I've ever met you, either." He let out a soft "hmm…" and snaked an arm around Alice's shoulders.

"And back there is Rosalie. The big hunk of muscle is Emmett," Alice continued, pointing. "They're married, too. Bella and Edward are here – " she gestured in their direction- "and they're our last couple. Courtney is the unattached one." She stopped short. "Did that sound terribly insensitive?"

I shook my head. "It's just truth, Alice. You don't have to apologize for what's true."

She shrugged.

Edward's head perked in George's direction. "Yes, that may be why."

"Why what?" Emmett enquired.

"He's… curious. He's never seen a coven so large. He was wondering if it's because of our diet."

The rest of us shrugged, though I wasn't sure I liked the acceptance of the word 'coven.' We were a family, not some three-man-band of people who would break apart easily.

Edward nodded. "Yes."

"Argh! Edward, would you quit doing that?" muttered Emmett. "I can't _stand_ not knowing what's going on!"

"Emmett…" Rosalie whacked him on the back of the head. He muttered something unpleasant under his breath and rolled his eyes.

"Our guest would like to know what our… talents are. He's figured mine out," said Edward.

He pointed each of us out in turn. "Alice has premonitions. Jasper is an empath – he can sense your emotions."

_And influence them,_ I thought sourly. _But this turkey doesn't need to know that._

I decided I did not like George Davis.

Edward continued, glossing over Bella and the rest of us, before arriving at me. "This is Courtney. She's the newest addition to the family."

_Well, gee, Edward, make it sound like someone had a baby, why don't you?_ He snickered when he heard the thought run through my head.

"Courtney has a 'power' as well. She can see memories, or flashes of the past."

Out of all the crazy things my family can do, this one caught his attention. "That's very interesting."

"Yes," I agreed sullenly.

George left in his car – Rosalie gritted her teeth so hard, I was surprised that they weren't cracking – and drove off to get some clothes for the hunting trip.

Edward turned to me. "What on _Earth_ is wrong with you?" he asked quietly. "You aren't usually this…"

"Pessimistic," Jasper finished, when Edward failed to find an adequate word.

"That might work. What's wrong?" asked Alice from her place next to Jasper. "You do look strange."

"I don't like him," I muttered. "He creeps me out."

It was true. This guy sent shivers up my spine that I couldn't shake off.

Alice's eyebrows furrowed, and her face smoothed into the blank stare she slips into when she gets a vision.

"The future just disappeared, everyone." Seven heads snapped around to stare at her.

"But… that only happens with…" Bella said shakily.

"I know. But why are they coming up here?" Alice was muttering to herself, sifting through the future again. We all jumped when the phone rang.

Carlisle answered it, making plans with George to go hunt this weekend.

The next day, there were sunbreaks through the clouds. I elected to stay home, with the rest of my siblings. I worked on a project that was due in a week, read, and generally _tried_ not to make a nuisance of myself. Really, I tried.

We headed up to a little national park in Canada with a minor bear problem. I rode with Alice and Jasper, talking and laughing. The other three cars arrived at the overgrown dirt parking lot and we piled out, Bella leading the way to where she said George waited.

When we got a bit closer – Bella said about twelve miles – she stopped short, smack dab in the middle of a stand of ferns. A drop of water splashed onto her face. "No," she whispered.

Edward immediately dashed over, scenting the air around us. "What is it, love?"

"Edward… do you think the La Push wolves could _possibly_ have come up?"

His eyebrows pulled together in the center. "I doubt it… but… I suppose it _is_ possible. Why do you ask? I don't smell your friend."

She shook her head. "Neither do I. But I can sense them, standing right next to the vampire, whom I assume is George… these werewolves feel different, though. Not as… there, if you know what I mean. I'm not sure it's… Jacob… and his friends. And they're not fighting the vampire. They're standing beside him."

We moved forward more cautiously, entering into the little clearing where we'd agreed to meet. It would have been a pretty place in the sun, I think, but apparently Western Canada was getting unpredictable rain in places. It was pouring. The cedar trees dripped fat, wet bombs into everyone's faces, and our shoes squished as we walked across the empty space.

Ranged around George were six hulking black canine shapes. When one of them stepped out, I saw that it was a dark, steel gray.

"Hello," said George coldly from his perch on a rock.


	21. Vendetta

**-starry eyes- Fifteen E-mails. I come home from classes and I have FIFTEEN e-mails waiting for me from FanFiction. You guys ROCK! Thanks for all the lovely reviews. **

**I'm not going to respond to individual reviews this time, just so I can get on with the chapter. Two-thirds of this one has been written since before my writer's block.**

**Enjoy. All the usual disclaimers apply.**

No one spoke for a few minutes.

The silence stretched on.

Bella was the first one to speak, walking toward a reddish wolf. "Jacob?"

"No," said Edward. "These aren't the Quileutes."

"Would someone please explain what's going on?" I asked. "I feel like I've walked into the sixth book of some series I haven't read yet."

"Well, I'm not quite sure, either, Courtney," Emmett told me. "All the same…" He cracked his knuckles menacingly.

George gave him a withering look. "Listen, you muscle-bound idiot. Let me explain, and then you can fight me all you want!"

Emmett folded his arms over his massive chest.

"You may begin," I said, surprising everyone. I surprised myself; I didn't know I was capable of the kind of… condescending… attitude I was currently giving off. Emmett clapped a hand onto my shoulder.

"Go, Courtney."

"Shut up, Emmett. I want to hear why this… person is here," Edward snapped.

'The Person' smirked. He looked completely smug – complacent, secure in that he'd caught us completely off our guard. "I'm here as an agent of revenge, really…"

"Does that woman's influence never wane?" snarled Edward suddenly. He seemed to know exactly whom George was talking about. (Of course he would – he's Edward. But still.) Edward turned to face the rest of us.

The name he spoke had my siblings cringing, growling, and shocked. I didn't know who the heck he was speaking of when he said, in a soft, dangerous voice, "Victoria."

Bella's eyes went wide. "_No._"

"Yes," laughed George from his rock. "You see, I'm here for another reason besides that. But it's not really important right now. Maybe in a few minutes I'll tell you… or not."

There was a loud growl, and Emmett dashed forward, his arm encircling George's neck. Three wolves started to creep in, staying low, but George flung out an arm. "Stop, stop." He chuckled. I grudgingly admitted that I admired him, being able to _laugh_ with Emmett's arm wrapped around his throat.

George continued. "My, my, my… I haven't even explained it yet and you all go for me. Tsk, tsk. Perhaps I should explain?"

He tried to twist out of Emmett's grasp, but was held fast. "How's this?" Emmett offered pleasantly, as though he were asking if George took one lump of sugar or two with his tea. "I let you down. You explain everything. Down to the last little insignificant detail, okay? And your giant dogs don't go anywhere near us."

"Fine," said George calmly. "And you all get to sit forty feet away. We can hear well enough from there, don't you think?"

He sat down as Emmett backed away, his eyes fastened on George's face.

"I shall begin," started George, "With a prologue. All good plays have a prologue, don't you think?"

"Get _on _with it," snapped Rosalie. George put his hands up in surrender.

"Once upon a time in Southern Texas, there lived an aspiring young actor named George Davis. This man was seduced by a vampire, bitten, and used as a newborn soldier in a crazed attempt to keep a human city. Against all odds, he survived for three years, then five. He was a vital part of the city's keeper's inner circle. Imagine his chagrin when twenty-two young vampires overran the city and killed every vampire not of their side except one. They were led by a young, blonde man."

Heads turned. Jasper glared at George with all he was worth, not saying a thing.

The sun broke through the clouds for just a few seconds, highlighting the scars on Jasper's arms, bared by the T-shirt he wore.

"George vowed he would get revenge on the people who had taken his hunting ground from him," continued the vampire perched on the rock.

I wasn't sure why he was speaking in the third person, but it was very "low-budget-movie-villain-chic."

"He spent almost one hundred and forty years looking for the young blonde male. Imagine his surprise when, passing through Northern Canada, he met another vampire. When the female asked him where he was going, and he explained, she told him she'd met just the person he was describing."

"When she left for Seattle, he was… disappointed. You see, he had begun to think of her as a close companion, or at least the closest one he'd had. She had other plans."

"She went for Bella," murmured Alice. "Of course. Why should anything in this world work out like it should? At least I know why the future disappeared, now."

George continued. "So now, I went to look for Victoria. When I found that she had been killed by a pack of wolves and the very family I was looking for, I figured I could kill two humans with one bite and just off you all." He said this almost pleasantly.

I tried to figure out the return to first-person, and then the perverted human saying "kill two birds with one stone" hit me. Ugh. I forced myself to attend to what George was saying. "So, I figured that I had no chance against you alone – "

"Smart man," Emmett muttered. George ignored him.

"I found a pack of wolves willing to help me… Did you know that a vampire killed two of their pack? They're planning on killing me after this," he announced cheerfully.

The wolf pack exchanged wary glances. They obviously hadn't known about George knowing they were going to kill him.

"And so, I came at you from the side. In all honesty, I'm not sure why she didn't sense me in the five or six days I spent at the human's school, but I didn't complain. Of course, I didn't know about her or her," he said, pointing to Bella and I in turn.

"And I watched you carefully. Humans are so easily manipulated, aren't they? Just a little bit of the ol' vampire eyes and they're putty in your hands. It helped that the human boy I chose was infatuated with your youngest coven member," he added as an afterthought.

"But… Colin said that his cousin was named Aaron. You're a liar," I said softly.

He laughed. "I'm a liar, I'm a cheat, and I'm a murderer. So? It's what we do, dear."

"My family and I do what we do for honest reasons. We're just trying to keep safe!" I cried. One of the smallest wolves growled lowly and looked toward the steel-gray one that we'd seen first.

I could have sworn that I saw the larger one nod. Edward leaned over and whispered in my ear. "The little one has been assigned to fight you."

"Well, enough chit-chat," declared George. "Which one of you killed Victoria?"

"I did," Edward told him. "I would do it again. _Gladly_," he added with a snarl.

"Wonderful," George said. All of the civility and cheerfulness had disappeared. "And so it begins. You were the one who struck the final blow, Edward, and so you get to go first."

"Only because she tried to kill Bella!" shouted Alice, trying to stop the fight. George leapt at Edward, control flickering.

His eyes landed on Bella, whose own eyes were scared, but determined. "You started this all, didn't you?" he growled. "You and that stupid James. Without him, she should have fallen in love with me!" His eyes were frenzied and wild.

"Logically, shouldn't you be going after James, whoever the heck he is?" I asked.

"NO!" he roared. "You stupid girl, James is dead! Why do you think Victoria was risking her own neck going after this damned family?"

"Well, pardon me for not knowing who you're talking about!" I screamed. "Listen, psycho. I want you to leave my family well enough alone!" I flew at him, fingers curled into rock-hard talons. I got in two good scratches to the eyes, vulnerable spots that remained past the human life, and a single bite to the arm he'd thrown up to protect himself before he tossed me aside.

"You can't stop me," he bit out harshly. "I will do whatever I can to see this family, this unnatural coven brought down."

"Idiot!" I cried. "If someone falls in love, they don't stop being in love with them just because they're gone! You can't do anything about it!" I noticed that Bella gave me a perceptive, measuring look at that statement, and Edward flinched almost unnoticeably.

He was a good fighter, but with Edward being able to see what he was to do next, Alice to tell us where to not be, and nine-to-one odds, he didn't stand a chance. The wolves just stood by, watching.

Just before Emmett received the pleasure of ripping his head from his shoulders, he laughed. "You can't do anything about it. It's already in the mail."

The wolves and my family reached a safe compromise. We weren't to come back, but they weren't to go after us. I think Edward missed his calling as a lawyer.

We burned the pieces of George's body until they were just black ash, not wanting to think about what he meant by 'it's already in the mail.' We tried to track down a suspicious piece of mail, but couldn't find anything.

Two weeks later, Colin Adams got a DVD in the mail.

_Listen, Colin, it's me. Aaron. I need to tell you something. I'm not your cousin, and I've used you mercilessly over the last couple of years. Aaron isn't my real name, either. It's George. But this is something more important than that. You know the Cullen girl, Courtney? Yeah, the one you're so obsessed with? She's a vampire. All the Cullens are. You may think I'm crazy, but I know it's true. I'm one of them, too, but I'm on your side. I won't hurt you like these horrible fiends will. You need to distribute the following video to any and all news stations you can. Get them all over Alaska, over the US. I'll probably be dead, killed by these ruthless monsters. Expose them for the demons they are._


	22. Evidence

Edward sat in the middle of the circle, murmuring quickly to us. The humans nearby wouldn't hear anything but hissing – if there had been humans nearby.

He was repeating Colin Adam's thoughts as he tried to find my family.

"…_Can't really be true, of course…_" A few minutes later Edward stopped speaking and frowned. "This boy has the worst case of indecision I've ever seen."

"I know," Alice announced. "How do you think I feel? He hasn't decided on a plan yet and I'm _blind_!" I gave her a quick hug.

The little alcove off the library hallway was deserted, as it usually was. Not many students chose to come here to study or eat, as it was on the opposite side of the campus from the lockers and the cafeteria. My siblings and I had 'claimed' it as soon as we noticed the phenomenon.

"Look sharp," Edward said suddenly. "He'll be here… soon." I inhaled, scenting the air. Sure enough, Colin's unique smell permeated the hallway. I thought it smelled vaguely like coffee- probably the by-product of his constant intake of the stuff.

He rounded the corner and stopped short. I suppose all of our heads turning to face him in unison scared him a little, because his eyes got wide and his nostrils flared.

I heard him mutter to himself, thinking we couldn't hear him. "That video has to be CG'ed or something, because there is no way in hell that… Okay, I can do this." He took a deep breath and scuttled toward us, looking all the while like he'd much rather sink through the Earth's core into molten rock.

"Um, hi, Courtney," he stammered. "Could I… um, talk to you for a second? I… Look, this isn't going to make any sense but I think you should all see it since it involves all of you and of course it can't be real but I really want to know if it's just really good computer graphics or some sort of hallucination or what because it's just unbelievable and it's kind of creepy and I really don't know what to say… So can I talk?"

"You are talking," Rosalie sneered. "You're babbling your head off."

I saw Colin inhale. I got up from the plastic chair I sat in and scooted into the window seat, so I was sitting on Rosalie's right side. Alice sat directly opposite me. My family squished together so that Colin would even consider sitting.

He did, though he was quaking with terror. He checked his watch, moved his backpack, and stared out the window behind him.

I coughed. "Colin, we don't have all day. My brothers and sisters and I do have to be home at sometime before two AM. Just because we stayed after doesn't mean that we can listen to nothing for hours while you try to talk to us. Just say what it is, please."

He gulped and turned toward me. In his hand was a silver disc- a DVD, I'd bet my life, that he'd been agonizing over for two days.

Poor Edward, having to listen to this! We knew Alice would see if he did anything definite, and so had chosen to wait. I was questioning the intelligence of this plan as he fumbled for words.

"See, my cousin sent me this DVD a few days ago. Only, I don't think it was him. Last time we knew, he was living in Seattle and had a good job and stuff. This is a Canadian stamp."

I nodded encouragingly, motioning for him to go on.

"So I watched this movie. I figured, what the heck, it's nothing that can hurt me… Imagine my surprise when I found out what it said."

He gulped again. "Don't stop me once I get started, because I know I won't be able to keep going if you do. And it's going to sound totally insane."

"It's okay," I told him. "I'm not too sane myself sometimes." Edward flinched, seeing the memory of that day in the parking lot float through my mind.

"Somehow, Courtney, I don't think that's the same kind of sane," he said under his breath. He spoke so quietly that even I had to strain to hear him.

"Okay, so my cousin sent me this. And the first thing he drops on me is he isn't my real cousin. So I'm not sure why I'm still referring to him like that. But the second thing is that he's been using a… a what-do-you call-it. A fake name."

"Pseudonym?" I asked.

"Yeah, that. And then the third thing… crap, I can't do this." His head fell forward and hit the laminate table with a thud.

"That can't be good for his skull," Alice said.

"Listen, I'll just go. Forget we said anything. Um, I'll just be going and annoying the thugs down by the Dumpsters 'till they kill me."

"Oh no you don't!" I cried. "You started, you finish. I want an answer."

He gulped again. I wondered if his throat would have a permanent bulge. "You promise you won't hurt me?" His voice squeaked a little at the end.

"Of course not," Bella assured him. He tossed a nervous glance in Emmett's direction. I had to agree – Emmett did _not_ look like someone incapable of hurting him.

"I think you guys need to watch this." He cringed in his seat, waiting for a blow. When none came, he peeked from behind his too-thick glasses.

"Well, I'm sure we could persuade one of the teachers to let us use their DVD player," Jasper said quietly. "Or there's one in the unused science lab downstairs." I could feel him playing with the emotional atmosphere, making it calmer – less tense.

"Um…" Colin's eyes darted from my face, which he was staring at like a lifeline, to Edwards. He was trying to figure out why Edward was chuckling darkly. "I'd rather not do this in school."

"Then the only option I see is you coming to our house," Emmett said, surprising everyone.

Colin looked as though we'd told him we needed a three-thousand-word paper on the effects of volcanic ash on people's lungs in twenty-four hours. His eyes were now so wide that they looked to be in danger of falling out, and he was stammering incoherently.

"Yuh… You want me to come to your house? Why can't we go to mine?" His voice shot up again on the "why."

"Privacy," I told him. "Don't you have four or five siblings?"

"Only two are home," he muttered rebelliously. I sat and stared at him.

"I agree with Emmett."

"So do I," put in Edward. One by one, the rest of my family offered their opinions. Beaten, Colin swallowed hard.

"I don't know the way to your house."

"It's okay," I assured him. "You can just ride with one of us, since you walk to school."

Jasper drove Colin, Alice, Bella, Edward, and I home in the Lexus. Rosalie took 'her' car with Emmett, following just behind us.

I knew that, even with Jasper trying to soothe the nervousness floating around in the air, Colin was still very much on edge as we pulled into the driveway.

"Wait." I spun and looked at him – he was still planted in the backseat, where he'd sat next to me so that he could stare out the window. "I want your word that no matter what happens in the next couple of hours, you won't hurt me."

It took me a moment to realize Jasper was feeding him bravado on Edward's request. Edward told me, under his breath, "He never would have come in if I hadn't asked Jasper to."

I nodded. "I promise."

"So do I," Alice and Jasper said simultaneously.

"You have my word, Colin," Bella promised.

"Yes," Edward said simply.

When Emmett and Rosalie pulled up, they too gave their word. Just then, I noticed that Carlisle's black Mercedes was gone. "Where's Carlisle? His car's not here…"

"Perhaps he left us a note," Bella offered. We all walked into the open, airy house to check. I eyed Colin as he stared around the living room… taking in the artwork and knick-knacks: portraits I'd done of the family (which turned out much better than they would have when I was human), pictures of places my family had lived, a few china figurines Edward once told me had belonged to his mother and now to Esme…

His eyes rested on the wide-screen television and its accessories that was more for show than for use. Occasionally we would watch the news, but none of us were TV junkies.

"There's no escaping it, is there?" he asked blandly, in a monotone.

Bella came back in, waving a scrap of paper with Esme's curly, copperplate writing on it. _Hello all,_ it said.

_Carlisle and I went 'out.' We'll be back tomorrow, around four PM. I'm sorry for dropping this on you, but I'm sure you can survive without parental supervision for less than twenty-four hours. Emmett, do not destroy my couch wrestling with Jasper and Edward. If Carlisle gets any calls from the clinic, please give his cell phone a call and we'll try to get back sooner._

_Love Esme._

"Well," Edward said. "This is unexpected. Did anyone else know they were planning this? Alice?"

Alice shook her head. "Must have been a snap decision while we were at school or something."

"Now that that's cleared up," I sighed, trying to be patient, "do you think we can talk now?"

All eight of us filed into the living room. Colin snatched the ottoman sitting next to the fireplace, clutching it like it was anchoring him to the floor. I flopped onto the thick rug, five or six feet from him. My siblings took places on the couch and chairs.

"Okay," Colin started. "I'm just going to spit it all out and show you guys the movie and then… we'll, um, see." He took a deep breath. "My cousin thinks he's a vampire."

My reaction was just as well practiced as the rest of theirs. "_What_?"

"You heard me, didn't you? And he says you guys are, too."

I burst into rehearsed laughter. I heard Alice chime in, a moment too late, then Emmett. "Really, kid, a vampire?" gasped Emmett through (fake) tears of mirth. "Does he have to be invited into your house every time you want to see him?"

"No…" said Colin slowly. "But he does have some pretty solid evidence…"

"Like what?" Jasper asked with forced calm.

"Well, he has this movie… Can I show it to you?"

"Go ahead," Alice piped. "The DVD player is really pretty self-explanatory."

Colin slipped the slim silver disc into the player, and we watched the introduction. I paused it at the very end. "You aren't going to send this out to the news stations, are you?"

"No," he said after some deliberation. "I don't think so. Not until I have a definite answer to everything."

We watched with horror as George's voice narrated a picture – a cartoon, really – of a stereotypical vampire: "_One of the few uses for werewolves is that they negate some vampire's powers. Cullens, guess who put the video together."_

Alice ground her teeth. "Stupid… Ugh!" she muttered under her breath. Jasper wound an arm around her waist and pulled her onto his lap. She snuggled into his chest, eyes fixed on the screen.

The picture changed to a badly filmed movie. Clips of our family, talking so fast that we couldn't be understood – then those same clips in slow motion.

A few terrifying seconds of us hunting – Emmett flying through the underbrush after something large and scared, a curly head bent over a deer – oh, God, was that _me_?

Worst yet, a perfectly focused clip of the child falling off his skateboard… which then focused on me. I cringed. I looked terrible. Soulless.

The absolutely, terribly, awful part? I was frozen, like I couldn't move. I wanted to. To stop it and make it go away. To live in the wilds of Australia for the rest of my life and forget I'd ever met a boy named Colin Adams. And I was unable to do anything to help my family.

The ending scenes of the movie were horrifying: my siblings, dismembering George limb by limb. The fire and the choking black smoke…

"I'm going to_ kill _whoever made this damn video," I snarled under my breath. Edward rested a hand on my shoulder as the movie wound to a halt.

"Remember your temper, Courtney. If you blow up now…" He didn't finish the sentence. I knew what might happen.

I turned to Colin, who had a defiant look on his face. "Um… So let's say the story was true," I said. Bella gasped.

"Courtney, what are you _doing_?"

I ignored her: Colin was thinking hard, face screwed up in concentration. "I would, first of all, ask what kind of a drug you were on. But then after I thought about it, I'd ask… aren't vampires supposed to, you know, drink human blood?"

"Yes," I mumbled humorlessly, "That is the majority of stereotypical vampire's diets, isn't it."

"Why won't you just come out and say it?" Colin demanded. "You weren't watching your face. Your brothers and sisters might have stayed in perfect control, but you didn't. There's something in there that upset you, and as… freakishly unlikely as the idea is, I can't think of anything better."

Edward snorted. "You have a very high opinion of my little sister, don't you, boy?"

"Huh?"

"_Avenging angel_ indeed… Really."

"Edward, are you just throwing caution to the wind?" demanded Rosalie. "What the hell are you doing?"

"More important, I think, is why you _knew what I was thinking_!" shouted Colin. "What the heck were you doing? Some kind of freaky hypnotism?"

I sighed. "You seem determined to believe it, so I'm just going to come out and say it. C'mon outside with me, Colin."

He followed me into the dusk. Night was falling earlier and earlier as the days got colder.

"Colin, that movie is… in part… true. My family and I are vampires." He gulped, but let me continue. "Do take that agonized look off your face. I'm not going to lead a violent group massacre through the town! Look, didn't you notice? Animal blood. We don't… drink human blood. For _moral_ reasons, don't you get that? But the video's wrong in that we didn't kill George for no reason. He was trying to kill Jasper and Bella –and the rest of us – and it was merely self-defense."

Colin just stared at me.

"Look, if you're going to run screaming now, I'm going to go destroy that DVD." I turned to go back into the house, but Colin stopped me with a hand on my arm. He yanked it back. "Jeez, you're cold."

"I don't have time for mind games. Make up your mind now or I go in."

He swallowed. "I don't… I can't honestly say that this doesn't freak me out in the extreme. I'm about a shock and a half away from calling down to the Church of Christ downtown to come perform some sort of creepy holy ritual thing… why are you laughing?"

I explained that the sign of the cross didn't affect us; that that was just a myth.

He looked at me again. "Is it really all true?"

I sighed heavily. "Yeah."

"I guess I should give you these, then." He handed me a pair of thick, black-rimmed glasses identical to his own and a white envelope with "Cullen" on it in block letters – the kind people write in when they don't want their handwriting analyzed.

I walked him back into the house so we could open the envelope. He kept about four feet between us the entire time.

**-wipes brow- Whew! 2647 words in one sitting! This chapter is seven pages long in Word – my chapters are usually about three and a half. Enjoy the super-long-ness, which will be made even longer with an A/N!**

**Since I updated on the thirtieth of May, I've gotten 40 e-mails from Fanfiction telling me I've had people favorite this story, review it, put it in their favorite stories… it's overwhelming. Nineteen of those (and maybe more!) are review alerts. Thank you, thank you, thank you!  
**

**On the subject of reviews, I'm going to say that if at all possible, I'd like to hit 175 on this story before it's finished – which could take anywhere from one to ten chapters. This is a not-so-cleverly-disguised review plug. **

_**Review Responses (skip these if you want, I won't be offended!)**_

_**FinnIrishDancinChamp – thank you very much. That's high praise. Does this satisfy?**_

_**Starlight Disaster – I beat it! I beat it! It just took a few head-meet-desk sessions for it to work. **_

_**Buffshakey (geez, Jenn…) – Thank you. I'll try to work you in. And if I don't you can hunt me down and hurt me.**_

_**CaptJessicaSparrow –Well, he still hasn't made up his mind on whether to run screaming or not…**_

_**Sunshineanddiamonds – Yes. If 'little' is your definition of plot-making, haha.**_

_**Patronus Charm – The plot is so thick right now, a spoon would stand up in it… and I think that's a wonderful idea. If you ever meet George, you reserve all rights to handing him the atomic bomb.**_

_**DemolitionLover – I guess it does! And yeah, offhand I'd say the video has some pretty shocking stuff in it… Just how he **_**got **_**the footage is a mystery. I'll work on your one-shot after this story winds down and my mind can focus on other plot lines that don't spring from this one.**_

_**Caww – Yes, a very low blow. Devious little devil, George Davis. Thanks for the compliments in your earlier review, too.**_

_**CSP – Intrigue!! He is a terrible, terrible person, isn't he?**_

_**EdwardCullen'svampirewife – I sincerely hope I haven't killed you. Send me the hospital bills for your resurrection. I would hate to have that on my conscience! **_

_**Hamistasty – I love your name. Just love it. Very, very intense indeed!**_

_**Dramatis Personae – I soothe your itch. Yeah, the last few weeks of school stink, but after that I'll have the summer to write.**_

_**ABCDinosaur – You probably won't read this for a while, considering this review was for chapter three, but you made me laugh, if only because one of my friends said something much like that…**_

**Until next time!**


	23. Debates

**-Laughs sheepishly- Eeeeh, what does one say after a half-year absence?**

**I'm sorry. Yeah, that's it. Muse is sluggishly coming back to **_**Twilight.**_** Thank you, all, for the lovely concrit and reviews! I'll be editing this story and adding in details as I update with new chapters (although I'm not sure how quickly those will come…), so keep re-reading if you'd really like to see what happened during the timeskips. **

**Also: Because this was started/last updated before the release of **_**Breaking Dawn**_**, the rest of this fanfiction will **_**not**_** take into account the events of said book. I really don't feel like re-writing everything to include certain parts, although it might be fun to later… Anyway, I might be incorporating some of the mentioned characters (e.g. some of the extra vampires, etc.) but no major new ones.**

**Look at another chapter for the disclaimer. Warning: somewhat short chapter.**

**Your new chapter (23) – **_**Debates**_**. **

"So, what you're saying is you think that Piggy's the cause of all the problems? You're just twisted. It's completely irrational. He's not the aggressor here, Jack is!" I fumed. "Sheesh, just totally undermine the poor kid."

"No, I didn't say that. What I said was that Piggy made the problems _worse_ because Jack's jealous of him. It would have been better if Piggy hadn't been on the island at all." Colin crossed his arms and leaned back with a grin, thinking he had bested me. Emmett and Jasper were playing a furious game of _Halo 2_ on the widescreen in the background; Emmett cursed as Jasper obliterated his player. He wasn't used to playing at semi-human speed, and since we'd asked him to do so (as we didn't want to scare the cheese out of Colin just yet), he was ticked that Jasper was winning by strategy rather than by brute force.

"Do you have evidence to back that up?" I asked, turning my attention back to the discussion Colin and I had begun after he'd asked my opinion on the book we were reading for English, _Lord of the Flies_. He wasn't in my English class, so I jumped at the opportunity to hear a perspective that wasn't one of my classmates'… and to get his mind off the "OhmygodI'minahousewithsevenvampires" track Edward said it'd lodged on. We'd decided to wait until Esme and Carlisle got home to open the envelope.

"Well… no. I don't." He jumped as gunfire sounded from the speakers as Emmett wrought his revenge upon my blond brother with an evil cackle, followed by Jasper's incensed swearing.

"Well, then, that's just your opinion. I think it wouldn't have mattered. Seriously, Jack is just a crazed maniac. Once he set his mind on having the power in the first chapter, he was going to get it one way or another. Piggy was just an excuse for him to undermine Ralph."

"Are you sure about that?"

"As sure as I am that Esme and Carlisle will be home in a few minutes." I smirked – that could really confuse him, poor kid.

"See? Wait, _what_?" His face scrunched up adorably, trying to figure out if that meant I was unsure or not.

"Well, the car's engine is pretty distinctive, considering it works better than ninety-eight percent of the cars that go by here. And Carlisle is playing Beethoven."

"How do you know that?"

I knocked him gently –ever-so-gently – on the side of his head. He was so _fragile_, so _human_… _so tempting_, that treacherous part of my mind injected silkily. I ruthlessly squashed the thought beneath my interest in keeping him alive. "Silly. I've got nice ears, remember? I can hear the cars on the road… and Carlisle's coming down our driveway now."

He stiffened. "That's really creepy. That you can know all that, just … poof. You know? I guess you don't, but it's still a little weird that you can say 'oh, yeah, my dad's coming down the driveway' when your driveway is about a half-mile long."

"Uh, sure. If you say so. It's actually closer to a third of a mile long, though." Colin scowled at me.

"Picky, picky, picky. Hey, I just thought of something. Vampires are dead, right?"

My eyes widened. "Yes… technically… I mean, I don't have working organs right now except for my brain, and I'm not sure about the scientific explanation of why I'm still animated, but for all intents and purposes medically, I'm dead. I think?" I should really work up an experiment or something, to see how it is that I _can_ be moving, talking, thinking… doesn't thinking require oxygen to the brain, and oxygen requires a beating heart to move the blood to the brain?

I'll have to look into that, or do some research in the library of books my family has amassed.

He raised an eyebrow. "I take back the hearing comment. I think that's just about the freakiest thing I've heard of. You being dead."

"Well… moving on. You're not screaming, and that's a good sign… what about me being dead?"

He blushed a little, and I swallowed hard at the gentle pooling of blood below the easily breakable skin._ Must not think of Colin as food… must not think of Colin as food…_ Jasper got up and poked me hard before sitting back down, so fast that the human sitting opposite me wouldn't have seen my empath brother bringing me out of bloodlust. I snapped back to attention, focusing on the _sound_ of the words, rather than the scent of his breath and blood. My attentions went a little overboard, though, and I could hear the steady thud of his heartbeat.

_Pay attention, self._ I almost said, "I'm sorry, Colin, I was on Mars for a few minutes. Could you repeat that?" but caught myself as I realized he was still forming his question: "Is Dr. Cullen your father?"

I didn't realize I cycled through inner monologues that quickly.

"By biological standards, no. I was born in Chicago, ironically enough, but my parents and I moved to Michigan when I was two. Carlisle changed me, though, so I guess he's my father in that sense. He's the best thing I've got now, and I have to say, I've never met anyone so compassionate."

"Why thank you," Carlisle said as he entered the room. He laughed as Emmett jumped a foot off the floor – Emmett had apparently been too _in the zone_ to hear our parents enter. He indulged in some creative cussing under his breath before Esme reprimanded him quietly, "Emmett, language."

"Who's this?" asked Carlisle, focusing on Colin. His sharp golden eyes took in the scene: Emmett and Jasper nearby, Edward, Alice and Bella in the "dining" room doing who-knows-what (I think Edward and Alice were playing chess. She swears she'll beat him someday) and Rosalie out tinkering with the Lexus.

And me, sitting on a cream sofa, explaining my life story to a human.

I can safely say Esme and Carlisle were a bit confused.

"Esme, Carlisle… this is Colin Adams. He's the one we were telling you about." Both sets of ochre eyes widened, and Esme smiled – a bit unsure, but ready to play the human mother.

"Esme, it's not necessary," Edward called as he strolled into the room. "He knows already. We've got… something to show you."

"All right," she said with a soft smile. "If you think it's important." She turned to Colin. "I'm Esme, the children's mother. It's lovely to meet you, Colin."

He grinned back, visibly charmed. It's impossible to not like Esme – she makes everyone feel safe. "It's nice to meet you too, Mrs. Cullen. And Dr. Cullen… you gave my little sister stitches after she slipped on the ice last month."

Carlisle smiled too. "Is she all right? Not tearing around the house on ice-cube-littered linoleum anymore, I hope…?"

"No, she got scolded by Mom. She's taken to jumping off the couches now. I think she's going to be an extreme sports addict when she gets older."

Alice coughed lightly, sounding more like a waterfall than a throat being cleared. "Esme, Carlisle, we do have something urgent to show you." Both of our parents turned toward Alice, who continued to explain: "Colin is the one who first triggered Courtney's suspicions, and we've backed up these suspicions with the video that he's brought. We thought you might want to see the video before we open up the envelope."

"What envelope?" asked Carlisle.

"Perhaps we should just show you the video first," suggested Jasper. "Can someone go get Rosalie?"

As he said his supposed twin's name, she strolled in the door. "No need. I'm here." With a toss of honey hair, she settled herself onto the couch. Any fashion magazine would love to have her as a model, I reflected. Even in the beat-up, greasy jeans and the torn T-shirt with _Rochester, New York_ screen-printed on. The thing looked ancient, thirty years old at least. I wondered why she kept it.

Esme squeaked. "Rosalie Hale, get those greasy jeans off my couch! You're ruining the upholstery. It's bad enough I had to replace it altogether last month with Emmett ruining it!"

"Sorry, Mom," Rose said. She dashed up the stairs and reappeared two minutes later in a pair of bright blue jeans and a matching blue top that showcased her perfect collarbone.

"Better," Esme allowed. She sat in the wide leather armchair – large enough for two – and waited for us to tell her what was going on."

"We can't keep furniture," I whispered in Colin's ear. "Emmett destroys it."

"_Jasper provoked me!_"

"I took your Jeep out. I hardly think that counts as provoking if I informed you_ first._"

"Well, you returned it all muddy! And it smelled like skunk cabbage! It was _nasty._" Emmett stuck his tongue out. He's such a child sometimes.

The entire room went dead silent as the occupants turned to give Emmett our individual Odd Looks. Even Colin raised an eyebrow. Emmett turned, tongue still out, to see his family and an unrelated human staring at him.

"Uhhhh… You know what, I'm going to shut up now."

"It's not possible," I muttered. Emmett chose not to respond.

"Let's look at the movie, shall we? I think Carlisle and Esme would like to see it…" said Bella from her position at the DVD player. "Emmett! Come unplug your violent shooting game."

Emmett whined from his spot on the couch, twined around Rosalie with his feet on her lap. She delicately picked them up and placed them on the floor. "Emmett, you big baby, go unplug the Xbox. It won't kill you."

"Already been done," he cracked. I rolled my eyes.

Edward finally lost patience and unplugged the console himself. "Esme, Carlisle… the person we knew as George Davis sent this to Colin with instructions to give it to the TV stations. He hasn't, and he's said he doesn't think he's going to."

"He also threatened to… oh, what was it? Get the church down and perform an exorcism as well." I laughed.

Esme and Carlisle focused intently on the screen as the movie started…

**To Be Continued in Chapter 24.**


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